Anything But Dreaming
by The Rickaboo
Summary: Yuffie's nightmares are getting worse, they even follow her when she's awake. Good thing Riku will try anything to save her! YuffieRiku, blood, gore, violence, and disturbing imagery.
1. Red Snow

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and all related characters belong to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/N:** I haven't written in a while, so this is kind of odd to read, but it should get better as the story progresses. Some characters may be out of character, so please keep that in mind. This is a horror/romance/angst story, and contains nightmarish scenes. Pairings in this story are Yuffie x Riku and Leon x Yuffie, with some Sora x Kairi and other possible pairings. I am open to suggestions since I love writing so much. Some things in this story will be kind of awkward, but you may not even notice. This story may also contain some Dirge of Cerberus (FF7) spoilers, but probably nothing you'll be heartbroken to know about if you havn't gotten that far in the game. Some connections between Dirge of Cerberus characters and KH characters may be awkward, given the difference in timelines (ex. Yuffie is 16-17 in KH and 19 in Dirge of Cerberus).

**Content warnings this chapter:** **Scenes of horror/blood and gore.**

_**Chapter One** _

Absolutely Beautiful.

Those were the only words in her mind as she padded softly through the sparse evergreen forest. The pine trees around her were sprinkled with loose snow, glinting and sparkling in the morning sunlight. She turned slowly to admire the sight around her. Bending down to the earth she scooped up a handful of the glittering snow and smiled to herself as it fell down again through her fingers. Snowflakes fell softly from the sky and she shook some of it out of her coal colored hair. Tightening her scarf she remembered why she was here and pushed onward through the low tree branches. This place was beautiful, though. She could hardly keep from… That was it, before she knew it she had fallen to her knees and proceeded to roll in the snow, kicking up shimmering clouds of snowflakes and pine needles. The heavy coat she was wearing was so restricting, she took it off and threw it from her. Sighing happily she lay on her back in a snowdrift, staring up through the tree branches towards the clear blue sky.

A noise nearby made her jump.

Closing her eyes tightly she felt a heavy panting on her face followed by the putrid stench of rotting flesh.

She gasped and her eyes shot open. Fear and adrenaline coursed through her body, making her shudder. Nothing was there.

She slowly got to her feet again, looking around cautiously. Hearing the thud of heavy footfalls nearby she whirled around and dove behind a snow covered shrub, hugging herself and biting her tongue to keep from whimpering. As the footsteps came closer she held her breath and shrank down ever further behind the bush, trying to disappear. The footsteps stopped behind her and after a moment she couldn't help but sneak a look. When she didn't see anything she stood up slowly and looked around the open forest floor.

She shrugged and turned around again, nearly stepping on a small girl. She yelped in surprise and jumped back, fear gripping her briefly before she caught her bearings. Holding a hand over her heart she stared down at the child. She was wearing a hugely oversized coat and scarf, and upon further inspection, she realized that it was the coat she had throw aside.

She opened her mouth to say something about it when she noticed the girl's eyes grow wide, staring past her into the forest. She turned to look, but saw nothing but snow falling lightly through the branches. She turned back to the girl, nearly screaming when she realized the girl had vanished as mysteriously as she had come. But something caught her eye, and bending down to the forest floor she noticed a puddle of…

Blood. Fresh, metallic, still warm and steaming blood.

And leaning back in horror she realized it wasn't just a puddle either. There were violent splashes of blood across the ground and up the trunk of a nearby pine tree, staining the glimmering white snow a horrific crimson. Looking down again she saw the tattered and bloodstained remains of the coat, and that was all she needed.

Without looking back she ran as fast as she could from that place, feet pounding silently in the soft snow. She opened her mouth to scream and choked on the cold air. Tears streamed down her face and as she looked ahead she noticed the dark outline of a house, smoke spewing from the brick chimney.

A chilling shriek made her stop in the doorway and turn to look out at the forest. It got louder and louder until she clamped her hands over her ears. Suddenly it stopped, as though whoever was screaming had been abruptly dispatched, and she threw herself against the door and barreled into the house without even thinking of etiquette. Just as she closed the door and locked it behind her something heavy slammed into the other side of it and crunched sickeningly. Blood leaked under the door and scratching could be heard against the thick wood. Something slammed against the door again, leaving a hollow echo throughout the house, then slammed into it again. She screamed in terror as the door began to crack under the pounding. Splinters flew from the wood and stuck into her soft skin, making her shield her face with her bare arms. She screamed again as the door cracked in half and a long grey arm appeared through it, the bloody claws scratching for her face. The door finally collapsed inwards and…

"Yuffie, wake up!"

She opened her eyes. The room was spinning and she realized that someone was shaking her. Rather violently.

Eyes wide she stared up at the person holding her, only vaguely aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks. The first thing she saw was a pair of huge aquamarine eyes, and it took her a while to register just who it was. It's not like they had ever been properly introduced.

"Y..you…" She muttered drowsily, brow furrowing as to why he was even here.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in, it's just that you were kind of screaming and I thought something was wrong…" He released his hold on her shoulders and she slumped back against her bedroom wall.

She sighed heavily and wiped the sweat from her face, trying to get her body to stop shaking. Even in her dazed state she noticed how extra pale and frightened he looked. The expression faded quickly and she supposed he had calmed down and was back to normal.

"What are you doing in my room, Riku?" She rested her aching head in her hands and gazed at him wearily.

"Leon wanted to see you, said he had a job for you." He stood and offered her his hand. She gazed at it suspiciously before waving him away.

"I'm fine. Let him know I'll be down in about a half an hour?" She flashed him a fake smile and prayed that he would just go. It's not that she hated him, she just wasn't fond of guys she didn't know barging into her room and waking her up, even if it was a pretty horrible dream.

He took the hint and moved toward the door, giving her one last worried glance before opening the door and stepping out into the morning sun. He stopped momentarily as though he was going to say something, but then sighed and closed the door behind him. It made her wonder if screaming was all he'd heard, she had a tendency to talk in her sleep. And she was fairly certain that anything she had to say during a nightmare could not be fun to listen to.

She shrugged it off and climbed shakily to her feet. Adjusting for a few moments she wobbled into the bathroom and all but fell into the bathtub. She turned the water on as hot as it would go, not even bothering to take off her sleepwear first. She didn't care, she just wanted to be awake.

Fifteen minutes later she was back to her chipper old self, brushing her teeth cheerfully as the morning sunlight filtered in through the window. She removed the toothbrush for a moment to look at her reflection, the toothpaste making her look like she was frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal. She growled at the mirror threateningly then happily continued brushing her teeth.

Well over the designated half hour later she had donned her knee high boots, black shorts, and deep purple tank top and was ready to go.

"Oh!"

She stopped in the doorway and moved back to her bedside table. Taking a bottle out of the drawer she opened the top and a small white pill fell out onto her hand. Popping it in her mouth she swallowed it without water, threw the bottle in her backpack and dashed out of the tiny apartment.

**xxxxxxx**

"Yuffie, you're late." Leon's harsh voice harassed her the moment she opened the door.

She stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes at her childish behavior. He opened his mouth to reprimand her but Aerith stepped in between them and cleared her throat.

"Yuffie, we were hoping you could do something for us." She said with a smile, clasping her hands in front of her chin.

"The Great Ninja Yuffie is at your service!" She puffed out her small chest and spun her Conformer impressively in the air. "Ooops..!" She jumped to the side just as she lost her grip on the giant shuriken and it stuck into the floor where her foot had been. She pretended that hadn't happened.

Aerith suppressed a giggle and tried to force a serious tone into her naturally soft voice. "There's a gang organized against the Restoration Committee, but you knew that." Yuffie nodded importantly, but inwardly she wondered how everyone had failed to mention something like that to her. Again.

"So what about them?"

"They haven't been too much trouble, mostly they just run around town at night writing on houses and yelling from rooftops. But last night they started a fight with one of our volunteers, and when Leon got there they ran towards the Bailey. We think they're hiding out somewhere near the Great Maw, but we haven't been able to check it out because the terrain is so unstable." Aerith shifted from foot to foot and tangled her fingers in the hem of her skirt. It was obvious she didn't want to send Yuffie looking for them.

"Don't worry, I'll go check it out and report back before nightfall!" She hopped enthusiastically and turned around sharply when she heard Leon snort behind her.

"Just don't screw things up, I don't want to have to go out there and save you." He said harshly, making her wonder what she'd done for him to act like that towards her. She quieted and watched him walk out of the room.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence…" She mumbled.

Aerith looked horrified, but shook her head sadly when Yuffie looked at her. "Ignore him, he's just having a rough day." She leaned forward and murmured quietly in Yuffie's ear, "One of the gang members kicked him in a sensitive area."

Normally such information would have made her day, but she just couldn't bring herself to laugh. "I'll go get some things from the Item shop and get out of here." She said quietly and walked over to the door.

The walk through town wasn't too bad. It did a lot to lighten her mood and she managed to smile and wave when Kairi walked by with Sora trailing in tow.

"What are you up to this early?" Kairi asked.

"If I tell you I'll have to kill you. Top secret mission. Actually I'm just going to the store. Where are you guys off to? I thought Sora was nocturnal, whenever I'm supposed to get him for meetings he's asleep!" She smiled brightly, but Sora caught that something wasn't quite right and gave her a quizzical look.

"We're gonna go visit Destiny Islands! Speaking of which, have you seen Riku anywhere? We tried to get him to come but he said something had come up." Kairi replied, not knowing the ninja well enough to think anything might be wrong.

"Yea, I saw him a little over an hour ago, he barged into my room and woke me up, telling me Leon wanted to see me."

"That boy has gotten so weird! Whenever I talk to him he's always acting like he's either in trouble or worrying about something!" Kairi waved dramatically, as though pretending to slap him upside the head.

"Was Leon being an ass to you again?" Sora said randomly. He looked worried.

Yuffie was surprised and didn't know what to say at first. Her face fell a little at the thought. "Yea, he's been even more critical than usual. Aerith said it was because of earlier this morning, but he's been acting like I ruined his life for at least a week."

Sora pouted at her in sympathy. "It's okay Yuffs, I'm sure he'll come around eventually. After all, you guys have been working together for years. Maybe he's upset that you've been flirting with him for the past year and still haven't asked him for a date!" Sora laughed playfully and Kairi smiled like it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. Yuffie's eyes got huge and she blushed.

"For the last time, I do not have a crush on him!" She yelled as Sora ducked behind Kairi's shoulders.

Kairi looked at her watch. "Wow, we really have to go. Cid's not going to wait for us forever. Bye Yuffie, see you next week!" The auburn haired girl waved happily and dragged the still giggling Sora around the corner.

Yuffie stood there for a while looking at the place where they had been standing. She thought about what Sora said, and she had to admit, she had been flirting with Leon for at least a year. But that didn't mean she had a crush on him! Mainly she did it because it bothered him.

Not really wanting to think about it she continued down the road to the marketplace. She dug in her pockets for the list she had written as she approached the Item shop's counter.

"Can I help you?" Someone asked from behind the counter.

Still looking at the list Yuffie hummed, "Yeeeaa, I need four potions, a box of wheat crackers, some beef jerky, three bottles of water, two ethers, and a space blanket please." She folded the list, hoping that was all she was going to need and looked up at the man behind the counter as he began setting her order in front of her. She jumped violently when she realized it was Riku.

"Hey." He said simply, offering her a small smile. "What do you need all this stuff for?" he asked when the horrified look still hadn't faded from her face.

She shook her head, "Riku! What are you doing working here?" She realized how dumb she must have sounded, there was usually only one reason why someone would get a job.

"Duh, I need to make money somehow and I was hoping for something calm and relaxing." She couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but she had wondered why he always seemed to be missing when something big came up in town. She realized that she had been staring at him and shook her head again.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Leon gave me a mission to check some things out in the Great Maw. Shouldn't be too difficult, but if I'm not back before nightfall send out a search party!" She smiled jokingly, but he gave her a soft look and nodded with another small smile.

"So anyway, why didn't you go with Sora and Kairi to Destiny Islands? I thought you guys were inseparable or something like that. They seemed pretty bummed that you weren't going." She suddenly felt snoopy and hoped he didn't notice her light blush.

His face fell and he looked like he was concentrating on something. "Yea, well, you know. They're great and all, but when I'm with them it's like I'm a third wheel. I just feel like I'm in the way. Besides, Destiny Islands has some pretty painful memories for me. I like this town, being here makes me feel like there's some hope left. Like I can start new and forget about what I've done and where I've been. Ya know?" He looked at her almost sadly. It made her feel like crying.

"But what about your family? Weren't they in Destiny Islands?" She bit her lip in apprehension at how straight forward she was being, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

"I barely knew them. Never wanted to be home anyway. They never really cared about me, like where I was or what I did, so why should I care about them?" He shrugged. He didn't look upset, but Yuffie felt like he should have been.

"That'll be 2000." He said, not breaking eye contact with her. She was confused for a second then realized what he was talking about.

"Oh, right. Wait, only 2000?" He nodded.

"Restoration Committee members get a discount." he said simply.

"Since when?" She really doubted that, but shrugged and handed him the money anyway.

He handed her some change. "You're not gonna card me as a committee member?" She joked. He smiled again, making her feel better about being so snoopy.

"Don't push your luck."

"Hey, that should be my motto!" She chirped.

"Don't do anything Sora might do!" he said, watching her shove her purchase into her bag and head towards the Bailey. She waved at him as she left the marketplace. "What a weird guy." She said to herself.

_**End of Chapter One**_


	2. The Great Maw

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts and all related characters belong to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/N: **I love how easy this story is to write. Some characters in this chapter are fairly out of character, and I admit, this chapter requires a little bit of patience. The next chapter is much better. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I don't really have time to proofread the chapters before posting them, I just kind of skim over them and change some things.

**Content warnings this chapter: Extreme violence/gore and some language.** This chapter contains a lot of angst, and before you ask, no, I don't hate Yuffie.

_**Chapter Two**_

Yuffie stood looking out over the Great Maw from the window in the Bailey. She loved this place, not many people came here so it was quiet and peaceful, and it had a glorious view. Sighing sadly, she jumped down to the path just beyond the window, jogging slowly to the ruined castle gates. Taking care that no one saw her, she snuck along the cliff wall and scurried into the ravine path.

She walked for what seemed like hours before she got to the crystal fissures. She set her pack and Conformer down here to rest.

"Wheeew!" She wiped some sweat from her forehead and ran her fingers through her short black hair. Opening a bottle of water she took a few sips until she felt better, then packed up to continue on. The sooner she was finished here the sooner she could go home and cry herself to sleep again. This was where things would get difficult.

Jogging down the path to the huge opening of the Great Maw, she looked around for evidence of the gang. There were a few footprints in some dried mud, but other than that there was no sign that anyone had ever been here. She continued through the Maw, jogging faster due to the stinging winds. She came to the end of the Maw where the ground drops away to the Dark Depths. She edged forward on her hands and knees to peer over the cliff face to the ancient ruins nearly a mile below her. Squinting down at the ruins she saw something move, and a man wearing an orange shirt emerged from one of the dilapidated buildings. He moved over to another building and stood there for a few moments. Another figure appeared from the shadows of the structure and she barely caught the hand gesture that passed between them. It seemed like the man in the orange shirt had motioned toward Hollow Bastian. Both men disappeared into the ruins and Yuffie decided to chance a descent.

Moving over to her right she gazed down at the sheer rock walls. There were several ledges and she thought she might be able to jump from one to another and make it down to the bottom of the crater. Taking a deep breath, she slipped down off of the upper ledge and eased herself onto a shelf in the wall. So far so good, but she still had a long way to go.

There was another ledge about ten feet below her and to her left. She hopped straight down and landed on it easily. The next ledge proved trickier and she jumped down another ten feet only to lose her balance and pitch forward off of it. She tumbled down and closed her eyes as she narrowly missed ramming her face into another rock shelf. She slammed into the sloped cliff face and bounced into open air. Thinking quickly she took her Conformer from her back and slammed it into the rock wall. Holding onto it tightly she was roughly jarred out of her fall, and her wrist popped, making her hand slip. She quickly grabbed onto the huge shuriken with her other hand and wrung her wrist painfully. Looking down she saw a ledge just to her right. Swinging her feet over she caught it and pulled her favored weapon out of the wall as she landed safely on the rock shelf. She crouched there for several minutes, sipping water and calming herself down. Her stomach growled and she realized it was nearly lunchtime. Groaning quietly to herself she shouldered her bag again and carefully finished her climb down the cliff face.

The moment her feet hit the base of the crater she fell forward and hugged the earth, pressing her face against the cold stone. After a moment of rest she looked around her and tried to gather her thoughts. She was pretty out in the open at the moment, and her first objective was to get some better shelter. Moving quickly and bent down towards the ground, she rushed forward and to the right, circling around away from the front of the ruins.

It wasn't long before she reached the bottom of the mesa the city stood on, and she pressed her back against the rock and looked up. Climbing up would be easier than trying to go down, so she wasn't too worried about this part. She huffed quietly to herself.

"No wonder Leon wanted me to go. Probably hoped I wouldn't make it down the cliff!" She muttered.

She took out some jerky and popped it in her mouth as she moved silently a lot the wall, searching for an easy way up. Still chewing contentedly, she found a low ledge she could pull herself up onto. Looking over it to make sure the coast was clear she hopped up onto the mesa and darted under a stone outcropping. As she peered out of her hiding place she heard footsteps nearby and twisted around to look over a fallen pillar. A tall, well defined boy in an orange shirt and dark pants stood barely twenty feet from Yuffie's hiding spot. His arms were crossed in front of him and he groaned loudly.

"When's he even going to get here, these stupid pranks are killing me, ya know?" He kicked a rock and it flew past Yuffie's ear. She ducked back behind the pillar and listened.

"Shut up, there's a reason you're not in charge. These pranks have a purpose, ya know?" Another male voice echoed sarcastically from inside one of the ruined buildings nearby.

"How are pranks making progress? It's pathetic, ya know?"

"Deception." A female voice stated dryly.

"Right, Fuu. We're marked on their black list. They know who we are and they've labeled us as 'no threat'. By pulling dumb pranks and pushing people around they start to think that's all the balls we've got. That way, we can observe them and register just who we're dealing with. We weren't hired to off this city ourselves anyway, one thing we gathered from our reconnaissance is that we're outmatched!" Yuffie heard footsteps and the voice drew neared. The man must have been standing right behind her on the other side of the pillar.

"And be patient, the last I heard from her she said she had some business to finish up and she'd be on her way. Any day now."

Yuffie chanced a look over the pillar. She could just see the edge of someone's black hat and the shoulders of a white coat. A light clicking drew her attention back to her side of the pillar, and before she came face to face with Vivi.

"Yaaaaaaaah!" She shrieked, leaping to her feet and stumbling backwards against the pillar.

"Trouble!" The girl cried, motioning towards the other two men.

"You!" One of them growled, grabbing her roughly and hauling her to her feet.

"You want me to deal with her, Seifer?" The man in the orange shirt asked, stepping forward.

Yuffie reached for her Conformer, but glancing to her right she noticed the silver haired girl Fuu holding it in front of her on two fingers. 'These guys are fast!' she thought, panic rising up in her chest.

"Nah, I got it!" Seifer said seriously, dragging her into the ruins of the dark depths.

**xxxxxxxx**

There was fog as far as her eyes could see, gazing out at the horizon. The ocean extended only so far, then was enveloped in the thick fog. A chill wind blew through her hair and when she exhaled she could see her breath puff up in front of her like cigarette smoke. There were no sounds, no even the crashing of the waves on the shoreline below her. Just emptiness, silence echoing back to her in that bloodlike fog.

She knew what was coming, and there was nowhere to run. Closing her eyes she prayed like she'd never prayed before, and the breath hit the back of her neck like a ton of bricks. Terror raced up her spine, making her shiver in fear as adrenaline pumped through her veins. She held her breath as she felt a long claw tracing down her spine.

With no warning the claw jabbed sharply into the soft skin of her back, making her cry out in pain. Another claw wrapped around her arm, crushing it against her back as she was forced to the ground. She heard the bone snap and pain flooded her being. She screamed again and teeth ripped into the soft flesh on her shoulder. Warm blood dripped down her neck and hips and occasionally she felt some hit her cheek as she thrashed violently on the frozen ground, trying to escape her tormentor. The more she thrashed, however, the more violent the creature became, and she heard several ribs crack as it leaned its weight upon her small frame. All she could hear then was her screaming.

Pure agony was all she felt, blood was all she saw.

There was nothing else in the world and all she wished for was for it to stop.

Hot tears rolled down her face and she knew that she should be dead by now. The creature released its grip and she struggled to drag her broken body forward, away from it and to the water. Maybe if she could get into the water she could drown herself and finish the task.

She had painfully dragged herself nearly a foot when the creature leapt on her again, flesh tearing and bones breaking. Thrashing in a puddle of her own blood she lashed out at the creature the best she could. As she finally gave up and went limp she felt teeth on her throat and then nothing.

**xxxxxxx**

Her eyes flew open and she stared up at the clear night sky. Bolting upright and cradling her aching chest she screamed. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed. She closed her eyes and screamed and screamed and screamed until there was nothing left.

When she was too tired and hoarse to scream anymore she fell back down to the cold stone underneath her. She continued crying however. It offered her at least some comfort. She felt her face with her good arm, her cheek was slightly swollen and she knew she had a black eye. Her ribs hurt like hell, but she didn't think they were broken. She couldn't remember a lot of what had happened, but it was pretty apparent that even after she had passed out her assailants had continued to beat her until they felt the job was done.

Exhaustion finally got to her and she drifted in and out of sleep for what felt like hours. She felt weak and knew that if she didn't get help soon it might be too late. She had lost a lot of blood in the fight and it didn't help that she hadn't eaten all day. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a thankfully restful sleep.

The sound of rocks clacking and sliding together woke her, and she peered up into the deep pink sky. She closed her eyes again when she heard the heavy thud of someone jumping down to her side. If it was an enemy, she didn't care anymore. The thought made a tear roll down her cheek, but she was too tired to cry any more.

A rough hand caressed her cheek and a soft voice broke through her silence.

"Yuffie…God, I'm so sorry." She sighed in relief at the familiar voice.

"R-Riku." Her voice cracked and she couldn't help but smile. "Thought I was a goner.. What are you doing out here..?" Those aquamarine eyes were the most beautiful things she had ever seen in her life.

"You said to come after you if you weren't back by nightfall. So when Leon said you still weren't back yet I came out here looking for you."

She could have sworn she saw a tinge of pink in his pale face, but she knew better than to think that the big bad Riku would be capable of blushing. The thought that he cared enough to come out here in the middle of the night to make sure she was alright made her want to cry.

"Is anything broken?" He asked, looking her up and down.

"I don't think so." She said halfheartedly. "Just help me get the fuck out of here…" He nodded and helped her sit up.

Putting her arm over his shoulders he pulled her to her feet. She looked up at the steep cliff walls around them.

"Who did this to you anyway? The only way you could have gotten down here is if you'd fallen!" He said, looking up to the nearest ledge thirty feet above them.

"It was that shit Seifer and his ass buddies. Remind me to thank Leon when we get back to town. How do you suppose we get out of here anyway." She coughed violently when her throat started to sting from last night's screaming fit.

Riku gave her a sympathetic look and scooper her up into his arms. She closed her eyes as he bend down and propelled himself upward, soaring easily up onto the ledge. He repeated the action, leaping another twenty feet for a ledge, then skipping over the rest and landing safely on the top of the cliff. He could see Hollow Bastian in the distance, and the Great Maw stretching out to their left. He started walking with the broken Yuffie in his arms and admired the beautiful sunrise on the horizon.

"Riku..?" She whispered tiredly.

"Hmm?"

"How did you find me down there..?"

"I saw some light reflect off of something in the bottom of that canyon. Must have been your shirt zipper." He had nearly passed the canyon by in his rush to find her.

He looked down at her when she didn't respond, but she was already asleep again.

**xxxxxxx**

The next time Yuffie woke she was lying in a soft, warm bed. She realized that she was wearing someone's pajamas, and there was a steaming cup of tea sitting on the bedside table for her. She sat up slowly, and realized that someone had healed her wounds while she was sleeping. She was still slightly bruised, but she felt great.

"Good, you're awake. I was so worried!" Aerith rushed over to her side, sitting on the bed and feeling her forehead.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked, rubbing her head where her headband would usually be.

"Oh, only about an hour. Have some soup!" She motioned past here at the table where she had set a bowl of soup beside the tea. Yuffie grabbed it and ate hungrily.

"Where's Riku?" She asked eagerly, still wolfing down her soup like she'd never eaten before.

"After he dropped you off he ran back to your apartment to get some things I said you'd need. Leon got here not too long ago, he wants to talk to you soon if you don't mind the intrusion." Yuffie had to admit, she didn't want to see him right now.

She was about to protest when they heard the front door open. Even Aerith was quiet as they listened to heavy footfalls in the living room, a thud as something was dropped, and male voices.

"Great, sounds like Riku's back." Aerith sighed, "It's times like this when I really wish Sora was-"

She was interrupted by the sounds of raised voices. Alarmed, Aerith rushed to the doorway and Yuffie scrambled out of bed after her, ignoring how sore her limbs were. The two girls leaned in the doorway and watched the men argue. It was an amazing sight, neither of them had ever seen anyone question Leon's authority. He was leader and that was that, unless you happened to be Riku apparently.

"This matter is none of your business. You're not even a member of the Restoration Committee." Leon wasn't quite yelling yet.

"It doesn't matter, you almost got her killed!" Riku glared at the older man and motioned toward the room Yuffie was standing in.

Leon stepped forward and glowered darkly at the silver-haired boy. "I didn't do anything to her! Who are you to-"

Riku stood his ground, and Aerith held her breath and clasped her hands in front of her chin. "I'm not fucking afraid of you, Leonhart, and I don't care what grudge you have against her, she's your responsibility! She went out there even though she didn't want to because you decided she would! You didn't know what she was facing, and you didn't care, did you?" He sneered at the older man and turned to leave the room.

Yuffie moved like she wanted to follow him, but Aerith stopped her and guided her back into the room. She helped her back into bed and sat beside her for a while. For some reason, all the young ninja wanted to do was cry. She curled up under the covers as thoughts of the past day flooded her stressed mind. Aerith sat there stroking her hair until she finally fell asleep again. She watched her for several moments before deciding that enough was enough and heading back into the living room to have a talk with Leon.

**_End of Chapter Two_**


	3. Demon in the Bailey

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/N: **This chapter is kind of short, but I have a barbeque I need to get ready for. Please review and tell me what you think!

**Warnings this chapter**: Nightmarish images, slight violence.

**_Chapter Three_**

When Yuffie opened her eyes again she was surrounded by darkness. She felt like she was falling, but no wind blew past and there were no noises whatsoever. The air around her felt cold, making her shiver as she tried to brush hair out of her face. With a silent yelp she felt water rush up around her. It was freezing cold and she could have sworn she felt chunks of ice brush against her bare skin.

As she sank in the cold, murky water she began to panic. She was running out of air fast and her head began to pound. She kicked violently, trying to swim back to the surface, but to no avail.

In horror, she felt a white-hot claw reach up from below her, wrapping itself around her ankle and searing the tender flesh. She opened her mouth to scream, but water rushed in, filling her lungs. She choked on the rush of water and writhed in pain. Adrenaline from her violent panic wracked her body and she struggled to free herself and swim to the surface. It finally became too much for her as she continued to be dragged under, and her vision faded as she blacked out.

**xxxxxxx**

She felt a hand stroking her forehead and turned to face it. She saw an image of Riku in her mind, smiling down at her again, but as she opened her eyes the soft image faded to be replaced by Leon's harsher features.

"Yuffie.." He sounded sad and she wondered why. It had been so long since he had acted like this in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I've been really unfair to you lately.. I put your life in danger yesterday, it was stupid and I just wanted to say.." He hesitated when her eyes slid closed. Leaning down he placed a soft kiss to her forehead and jumped up off the bed. "I'm sorry." He left the room as quickly as he could without looking rushed.

Yuffie's brow furrowed in confusion. Had that seriously just happened? She blushed. Rushing out of bed the took a quick shower in Aerith's bathroom and brushed her hair. She threw on her white shorts, purple tube top, knee high black socks and grey boots and was out the door.

She had been thinking about Riku all morning and she needed to talk to him. She was running as fast as she could through town, she felt like she would die if she didn't get there soon. Her muscles still ached from their abuse, but she couldn't care less. Turning a corner rather sharply she rammed head on into someone, sending them both tumbling backward head over tail. The next thing she knew she was staring straight down at Riku's black shirt and yellow vest, perched right on top of his chest.

"You're kind of clumsy for a ninja." he observed, staring up at her from the flat of his back.

"Oh god, I am so sorry!" She blushed furiously and scrambled off of him.

"So, uh, where were you headed?" She tried to change the subject.

"I was just going to see how you were doing, but I guess you're feeling much better." He pushed himself back onto his feet and brushed some dust from his clothes. "Plus I was going to talk to Leon about those punks down in the Dark Depths. Anyway, where were you going in such a reckless hurry?" He gave her an odd look that she couldn't quite interpret, but she tried to ignore it.

"No where, just out for my morning jog!" She smiled, fighting a blush and praying that he would buy it and drop the subject. He gave her a suspicious look, but started walking back toward Aerith's house. 'Chicken' Yuffie thought to herself, pouting slightly and watching him walk away.

He stopped several meters ahead when he realized she wasn't following him. "You coming?" He asked.

She looked up into his eyes and felt her blood run cold. A shiver raced up her back and she felt the blood rush out of her face. Not believing what she saw she blinked. No, just Riku. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked, staring back at her.

She forced a smile, "Yea, I'll see you later!" She turned and ran the opposite direction before he could stop her.

**xxxxxxx**

Yuffie sat in the window of the Bailey, watching the Great Maw change colors as the sun set. Sighing heavily she leaned back on her hands, feet swinging out into open air. Life was so complicated and everyone was acting so strange.

She really missed the good old days when they lived in Traverse Town and all she did all day was hang out around town and train in the third district. It seemed like life was slowing down, if it hadn't stopped in its tracks already. This whole deal with Riku and Leon was really starting to take a toll on her. A couple of years earlier she had a pretty bad crush on Leon, when he had been taking care of her and keeping her safe from the Heartless. He had never returned any kind of affection, though, so she swore she was never going to mess with love again.

But Riku was much different. She blushed at the very thought of him.

When she first met him she couldn't understand why Sora had been so desperate to find him. He didn't seem too special to her, just another cold, distant prick. But he must have just been shy or something, because he had certainly warmed up to her now.

She laughed out loud. What was she thinking? Riku didn't have a crush on her! What a dumb idea. He just had a serious sense of duty. He was probably gay. She always thought that Leon was gay since he ignored her so well, but then he had taken a friend of hers on a date. She wouldn't talk to him for a week. Besides, she wasn't pretty enough to get Riku's attention. She had seen hordes of beautiful girls swarm over him and he never even seemed to give any of them a second glance.

"Hey, Yuffs, what's wrong?" The strong voice behind her nearly sent her toppling out the window in surprise.

"God, Tifa! Don't sneak up on people, it's rude!" Yuffie held a hand over her chest as she panted and tried to calm down. Tifa just laughed.

"But you're supposed to be a great ninja, you should have known I was there." Why was everyone picking on her ninja skills? Plenty of ninjas out there were just as jumpy as her, if not worse! She thought about that for a few moments then just scowled at the older woman.

"So what's up?" Tifa asked, swinging her legs out the window and sitting down next to Yuffie. The young ninja put on a smile.

"Nothin'! Just watching the sunset." She didn't really know why she tried, Tifa always seemed to know everything about her.

"Oh, come on. You don't sit up here unless you're really thinking about something. Was it that nightmare thing again?" She leaned over as if some one was listening in on them.

Yuffie's eyes widened at the mention of her distasteful dreams, but shook her head. "No, it's not that…" 'For once', she added silently.

"Oooh, I get it now. It's about a boy!" She crooned obnoxiously, then relaxed and leaned back, watching Yuffie like a big sister.

Yuffie turned bright red and refused to look at her. "The Great Ninja Yuffie does not date!" She threw her head in the air and crossed her arms.

"Yet!" Tifa added enthusiastically. "So let me guess, no, not Leon, he's not your type. Way too serious, that man wouldn't know fun if it bit him in the ass. It's not Sora, he's got a girlfriend."

"And he's way younger than me!" Yuffie scoffed at the idea of dating him, he was like a little kid!

"Riku's younger than you." Tifa said pointedly.

"What! I don't have a crush on Riku!" She cried, staring accusingly at the other woman. Tifa just rolled her eyes.

"It's so obvious even Leon knows about it!" She laughed.

"You were just pretending not to know, you're horrible!" The ninja yelled, scowling darkly through her blush.

"Does that mean you'll admit it?" Yuffie started to yell at her some more, but realized she was serious and put her face in her hands.

"Aw, Tifa, I've never been on a date in my life!" She shook her head in despair.

"Don't you think you're kind of over-reacting? I think it would be good for you." She got up and turned to leave. "Well, I'd stay, but I have a date with Cloud. Bye!" She waved and smiled before disappearing back into town.

Yuffie watched her go and stared at the entrance to the Bailey for a while. She'd known Tifa for years and she had never given her any bad advice, but she wasn't sure about this. She leaned back on the stone wall and pulled her knees up in front of her. The sun had almost set and it was getting pretty dark outside, but Yuffie hadn't been afraid of the dark since her parents died and left her with Leon. He wouldn't put up with the illogical fears of a little girl, and she had to outgrow them quickly.

'I know something you should be afraid of…' A thin, wispy voice rolled down the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end.

She sat up quickly and looked around her. It was dark in the Bailey, but she could tell that no one was there. However, she stood up.

'I wouldn't look if I were you…' She spun around as the voice whispered right in her ear.

"Who's there!" She tried to keep her voice calm, but it came out panicked anyway.

She realized that all sounds in the Bailey had faded, she couldn't heard the wind whistling along the stone or the constant creak of the castle ruins. Everything sounded dead.

'If you look, you might see something you don't want to…'

She spun around again when a pale figure appeared in the doorway of the Bailey. Her heart stopped and she could feel her blood drain from her face. The figure bent and twisted, standing nearly nine feet tall. A long arm twisted out and reached for her, long claws scraping the wall.

Yuffie screamed and fell backwards, slamming into the wall and sliding to the floor. Tears streamed down her face and she shook her head. She couldn't even hear herself scream, making her raise her voice even louder in terror. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed until it hurt.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" She shrieked, pressing her back into the wall until it felt like she was crushing herself.

She felt the figure leering over her, and a white-hot claw reached down to her face, leaving a long scratch on her cheek. Blood dripped down onto her shirt and she shrieked and twisted away from it.

Two strong hands gripped her shoulders and shook her violently.

"Yuffie! Snap out of it!"

Her eyes flew open at the familiar voice, but she continue screaming and crying, throwing herself in his arms. He hugged her tightly as her body shook in terror. He patted her back gently and whispered in her ear soothingly.

"Oh god, I was awake.. Riku, I was awake!" She stopped screaming and her lungs ached from the strain.

"It's alright, I'm here now. Whatever it was, it's gone." She leapt to her feet and dragged him up with her.

"Please, let's go! Let's get out of here!" She pulled him roughly toward the doorway, panic rising up in her again when he stalled and tried to slow her down.

"Yuffie, wait!" he called, holding her arm tightly as she tried to drag him out of the Bailey. She didn't respond, so he sighed and followed her.

They practically ran all the way through town until they reached her apartment. She fumbled with the key, her hands still shaking, until Riku took it from her and opened the door. He ushered her inside and closed it behind them. Immediately, Yuffie ran around, throwing things out of her way in her panic to close all the blinds and lock the door. She threw herself in bed and hid under a pile of blankets.

Riku sighed and sat beside her. "Yuffie, we should talk." He patted the lump gently and she shifted to peek out from under it. When he offered her a gentle smile she sat up, but pulled the blankets around her tightly, looking out of them like a hood.

"Okay, now, what the hell was that?" He leaned over so he could look her straight in the eye.

She moved uncomfortably, "Nightmares. I have.. Traumatic nightmares. My doctor called it mild psychosis.. He said it was nothing and gave me some pills."

Riku slapped a hand to his face, "And I'm willing to bet you haven't talked to him about it recently."

Yuffie shook her head sadly. A thump in the house next door made her jump in fear and she practically leapt into Riku's lap.

"Yuffie…" She was making him kind of nervous, he wasn't really sure what to do. "How long has it been like this?" He asked quietly.

Her eyes welled up and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Almost a month. But the nightmares have only been this bad since my last mission." Her head was resting on his chest and he couldn't help but put an arm around her.

"Who else knows?"

"Just Tifa, she was the one that took me to the doctor. I didn't even tell Aerith, so please don't tell anyone!" He thought about it for a minute before he realized she was curled in his lap and hugging him. He petted her hair as her breathing evened out, hoping silently that she wouldn't dream tonight. He tried to move out from under her, but her grip tightened and she whimpered.

"Alright…"

_**End of Chapter Three**_


	4. Sick Little Ninja

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/n:** This chapter was a bitch to write, but I think it turned out okay. It's a bit longer, and I'm trying to speed the story up now, so it's a little rushed. Took me all week to write, things were a little psychotic here. Sorry if there are any errors in it, I'm too lazy to proofread my chapters! Still open to opinions/suggestions. Or any comments really.

**Warnings this chapter:** Blood, gore, violence, disturbing images, and fluff. But I bet you guessed that.

**_Chapter 4_**

"Eeew…" Yuffie groaned, lifting up a foot and staring down at the four inches of bloody water she stood in. There was a putrid smell lingering in the room and she wrinkled her nose is disgust. She really didn't like the look of this place.

She moved forward, sloshing through the disgusting water. There was a huge metal door not too far ahead of her, and she squinted in the dimly lit room to see where the handle was. The door was old and rusty, and she had to use both hands to open it. Pulling fiercely, she managed to get the door to open a foot and she slid through.

Yuffie entered a dark hallway, with two doors to her left and only one to her right. The hallway ended ahead in what appeared to be an elevator. She walked to the door on the right and shoved until it finally creaked open. Peering out into the new room she saw what looked like a warehouse.

She walked in carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible in the inches of bloody water flooding this place. There were crates stacked all around her, and she was sure she didn't want to know what was in them. The door she entered the room from slammed closed with a resounding crash. She spun around, splattering water everywhere in her panic. A hunched figure stood there, laughing quietly as she watched it lurch forward. It moved slowly, but Yuffie was still horror-stricken. She couldn't quite make out what it looked like, the room was too dark, she simply turned and ran from it.

Splashing through the water, she dodged around crates and under old scrap metal and debris. She saw a door up ahead and she dove on it. Yanking the door open, she scurried inside and slammed it behind her. The door had no lock, so she hurriedly check the room she was in for escape.

Water dripped from the sealing eerily, making her hair stand on end. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what she was looking at.

Bodies. Hundreds of them.

They were stacked all the way to the ceiling, making a sort of path between them to a door across the room. The bodies were mutilated, explaining where the blood in the water was coming from. The ones closest to the bottom were extremely rotted, some only skeletons, and they sat in bones left behind by the bodies before them. There were organs in jars lining the hallway, and Yuffie's stomach churned as she gazed around her. Leaning over quickly she vomited in the water and began coughing violently.

She looked up as pounding could be heard from the other side of the door. Gathering herself, she dashed forward and ran down the hallway to the other door. She through it open and ran inside, sighing in relief when nothing was on the other side but some desks, old rotted out cubicles, and two very broken looking doors.

Unfortunately, the creature chasing her barreled through the door at that very moment. Yuffie screamed and tumbled back, eyes huge as she stared at the monster.

It was a fairly normal looking teenage boy. Darker olive skin, beautiful eyes, no hair, wearing ripped and bloodstained Capri type pants without shoes. What terrified Yuffie was the creature he carried on his back. It looked just like him, except that it had no bones in its arms and legs, its hands and feet were stapled together very crudely to make it a sort of backpack for the boy to carry around. Its eyes had been ripped out at some point in time, and it screeched like some kind of hellish beast. Sharp, rotting teeth lined its gums and it gnashed them at her hungrily.

When the shock wore off Yuffie screamed again and ran across the room. The creature followed her closely, shrieking at her and throwing desks and barriers out of its way. Tripping over something in her path, Yuffie tumbled face-first into the blood-stained water. The boy bent down and hauled her roughly to her feet, holding her by the neck. The creature on his back shrieked in her face again and she closed her eyes tightly as she gave up struggling.

**xxxxxxx**

She jolted awake, shaking violently and covered in sweat. She felt sick from the nightmare and her head spun as she looked around. A pair of arms tightened around her protectively and she realized she was still curled up on Riku's chest.

She would have blushed if she hadn't been so exhausted. Grabbing a handful of his shirt, she buried her face in it and wanted to cry. Somehow she just couldn't believe that he had really stayed there with her and held her all night. His hand shifted and he ran his fingers through her hair.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked softly.

"About an hour. You had another nightmare?" She nodded, gripping his shirt tighter and trying to forget about it.

"Yuffie! Open the door!" They both jumped sharply as an urgent voice called from outside the door.

Yuffie leapt from the bed, tripping over the blankets and stumbling awkwardly. "Tifa! Oh my god, this is horrible!" She looked around the room in panic.

"What?" Riku sat up and watched her suspiciously.

"She's going to find you in here!" Yuffie was bright red and looked like she was about to have a heart attack. She clapped her hands to her head and bounced anxiously in the middle of the room, trying to think of what to do.

"Yuffie! What's wrong? Open up!" Tifa pounded on the door loudly.

"Why is her finding me here so horrible?" Riku couldn't help but pout, that comment kind of hurt. He climbed out of the bed and ran a hand through his silver hair, trying to make it look less hassled.

Yuffie covered her eyes and blushed even more. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that, it's just-!" He walked over to her and brushed a hand along her arm. When she didn't complain he pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. She sighed sadly.

"Hey!"

Riku sighed, "Fine." He muttered and moved over to the door. He unlocked it and swung it open, leaning casually in the doorway.

Tifa's eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open. "Riku!" She cried, staring past him to see Yuffie standing there awkwardly.

"Good morning." He said plainly, putting on his trademark blank look.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She blurted out, watching Yuffie sulk into the bathroom and close the door.

"Are you guys dating or something?" She looked back at Riku suspiciously. Riku shrugged.

"Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something." He motioned inside and she stepped in.

"You know about Yuffie's 'mild psychosis', right? She has nightmares that I think she was taking pills for." Riku said quietly, listening to the shower turn on in the bathroom.

Tifa looked at him oddly. "Yea, I was the one that took her to the doctor. But how did you find out about it? Yuffie's terrified to let anyone know." Riku glanced at the bathroom door again before lowering his voice more.

"I was on my way to check out Seifer's gang in the Dark Depths and she was sitting against the wall in the Bailey, screaming and crying. She was acting like something was trying to kill her. As soon as she figured out I was there she jumped on me and wouldn't let go, she dragged me back here and asked me to stay with her. I've never seen anyone act like that, she honestly saw something there and it scared the shit out of her!" He said urgently.

Tifa looked horrified. "I was there with her in the Bailey, I must have left just before that happened... I even saw you on my way through town!" She put her head in her hands. "What else did she say about it? Are her nightmares getting worse?"

Riku nodded, "The other day Leon sent me to get her for that mission in the Great Maw, and she didn't answer the door. I just came in anyway and she was screaming in her sleep." Riku thought for a moment, "Doesn't something seem odd about this to you? Something just doesn't seem quite right, but I can't tell what. I mean, Yuffie is so happy all the time, she acts like nothing's wrong at all." Tifa was about to respond when the bathroom door opened and Yuffie stepped out.

"So what did you want, Tifa?" She chirped happily.

"Oh! Leon wanted you to come downtown with me, that stupid gang is at it again and he's getting really sick of them."

Yuffie nodded and headed for the door. Riku and Tifa looked at each other before following her outside.

Riku paused as they started to leave. "Hey, I gotta go, I'd like to help, but I have work today." He waved to them and gave Yuffie a smile as they left. She raised her hand to wave back, but he was already gone, jogging down the street towards the market.

**xxxxxxx**

With all the shouting on Leon's part, it wasn't long before they caught up to him in the city. Yuffie was really surprised, she'd never seen Leon so angry before, if he got a chance she thought he might actually try to kill Seifer. He stood in a battle-ready position, pointing his favorite Gunblade at the offending trio ahead of him. He was covered in scratches and bruises, and had obviously been fighting with the three troublemakers.

He stood there exchanging threats with Seifer as loudly as possible, and Aerith was standing not too far away with one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead. She shook her head at them as Leon lunged forward to attack Seifer again.

Yuffie gasped in horror as she realized that Seifer was wielding her Conformer, and he wasn't bad with it. Tifa put a hand on her shoulder as she balled her fists in anger.

"Hey! Get your filthy little hands off my shuriken!" She screamed at him, pushing Tifa to the side as she tried to keep her from charging out into the street.

Seifer stopped and looked at her, an amused grin on his face. He narrowly missed getting the Gunblade in his stomach as he tried to take a moment to taunt the ninja.

"You again, you're still alive?" he drawled. Leon growled dangerously at him and moved over in front of Yuffie in case he attacked her.

"Did you come to help out? No wonder you were so easy to beat, this shuriken is totally useless!"

She shook in anger, the memories flooding back painfully. Seifer took something out of his pocket and flashed it at her.

"How are you feeling? You forgot your happy pills when you left!" He took the cap off and threw them at Leon's feet.

Yuffie's eyes were wide in horror, staring down at the tiny white capsules. Leon turned slowly to look at her, a questioning look on his face. Seifer nearly doubled over laughing.

"You're so pathetic! And you call yourself a ninja, what a joke! A ninja that has to take meds to stay sane, does it run in your family?" He laughed and his cohorts joined in, yelling mockingly at her.

"Yuffie?" Leon asked quietly as her body shook. She stared past him at the three and something seemed to snap in her.

Seifer screamed in pain as a shuriken stuck deep into his arm, leaving a huge gash were it nearly cleaved its way to the bone. Blood poured down onto the cobblestone street and he fell to his knees, gripping the ruined arm tightly.

"Oh my god!" Aerith screamed, rushing forward. She didn't care who it was, he was hurt and she had to help. Fuu and Rai rushed forward. Fuu stared down at the crimson street, her usually blank eyes filled with horror.

"You!" She cried, glaring accusingly at Yuffie. She jolted forward, leaping at the young ninja. Unfazed and thoroughly pissed, Yuffie delivered a devastating kick to Fuu's jaw, catching her by surprise and sending the girl toppling backwards in a heap.

Aerith flashed Yuffie an angry look, but she turned and ran.

"Yuffie!" Tifa called, she moved to follow the girl but changed her mind. With any luck, maybe she would run to Riku, at least she would be safe with him.

**xxxxxxx**

It was there, right behind her. Blood dripping from its fangs and claws. She darted to the side as it snaked an arm out toward her, making her yelp in fear. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to explode.

'Why are you so afraid little one..?' It whispered. She clamped her hands over her ears and kept running.

Darkness seeped into her vision and blurred the houses around her. She blinked violently but it didn't help. Turning a sharp corner, the shadow behind her leapt up to the rooftops, giving her some distance. She felt relieved for a moment, before it pounced down right in front of her and she nearly smashed into it.

She shrieked loudly, thrashing away from it as it gripped her arms. Its claws dug deep into her arms, slicing through her soft skin and leaving several six inch long cuts. She was too panicked to notice, and wriggled viciously to free herself. Blood seeped down her arms and left red streaks on the rest of her body and clothes. She lashed out at the monster, managing to free herself and stumbled forward.

She thought it had vanished, but didn't stop to find out. She dashed down the ally and threw herself around a corner. A woman screamed somewhere to her left, and something heavy flew into her. Staring down at the body, Yuffie whimpered in horror. The woman's eyes had been ripped out, blood running from the open wounds. One of her arms looked like it had been chewed off and the ninja shut her eyes from the grisly image. The woman moaned in agony and Yuffie realized she was still alive. Screaming again hoarsely, she threw the body off of her and ran. Darkness was closing in, and she couldn't see anything but the houses around her. Blood ran down from the gutters in random places along the alley, pooling in the street so she could splash it up her legs.

A shadow moved somewhere near her and she cried out again in panic, throwing a shuriken at it. In her rush she stumbled again and fell. She rolled in the blood soaked street before coming to a stop and scrambling to her feet again.

It was too late, however, the shadow had caught up to her. It grabbed her around the waist and chest in a tight hug. She fought back, trying to get at another shuriken, but she couldn't reach. Screaming for help, the grip tightened and lifted her off the ground as she attempted a flailing kick.

Darkness began to seep into her brain and she let out another terrified scream as she felt herself losing consciousness.

Tifa spotted the spiky-haired swordsman up ahead, and ran to meet him. She had heard Yuffie's screams and come running to help her friend.

"Cloud!" She waved her arm toward him to catch his attention.

"Cloud! Where's Yuffie!" She cried as he turned to face her, the ninja cradled limply in his arms. "Oh god…" She whispered as she slowed to a walk.

"Oh Yuffie…" She stroked the top of the young ninja's head.

"Please tell me you know what that was." Cloud said quietly.

**xxxxxxx**

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. All the tests I gave her suggest that she's perfectly sane, but the hallucinations and nightmares you describe worry me. I can honestly say I've never encountered a case like this. She seems perfectly normal, but suffers from some kind of dementia." The doctor rubbed his neck tiredly.

"What can we do? There has to be a way to help her!" Tifa said urgently, gripping Cloud's arm.

"You could send her to an institution, or I can give her some more pills. It's either going to get better or worse, I can't say which for sure."

Tifa buried her face in Cloud shoulder.

"We'll call you again if we need any help, thank you, doctor." Aerith ushered him out the door. After it latched behind him she leaned against it and put her hands to her face.

"I can't believe this is happening… not to our little Yuffie." She sighed.

"See! Doesn't this seem odd to you? She has cuts on her arm! She wouldn't do that herself, so how did it happen?" Riku said, closing the door after checking on Yuffie.

"She must have caught it on something, she did trip a few times while running from whatever she thought was chasing her." Cloud said, head low as he tried to comfort Tifa.

"Something doesn't feel right, and I'm going to find out what. She's really freaked out, I'm taking her outside for some air." Riku said confidently,. No one objected as he entered the bedroom to get her.

**xxxxxxx**

They walked along between the houses silently, neither one sure what to say. It was beautiful out, the sun beginning to lower in the sky, but still casting bright sunlight down on the city. The air was crisp and warm.

Riku wanted to put his arm around her, or hold her hand, or something, but felt it really wasn't the time. She was still shaking gently from the incident, and he was really sorry he hadn't been there to help her. He had taken the day off as soon as he heard what happened, a friend of his agreed to cover the shop. He could hardly stand the silence, it was painful.

"What have you always wanted to do?" He asked dully. It sounded stupid, even to him, but she smiled.

"You know what? I've always wanted to go on a vacation. I like traveling, but I never get the chance." She looked up at the sky and tossed her coal hair back and forth.

He stopped walking and stared at her. No way, the great ninja Yuffie likes traveling? But she gets airsick! He couldn't believe it, maybe the reason she never went anywhere was_ because_ she got sick. That would certainly discourage him from travel. She turned to look at him questioningly.

"That.. Sounds really great." he smiled at her, a girl after his own heart. Well, maybe they have pills to help with motion sickness. She turned away to hide her blush when she noticed the softness in his aqua colored eyes.

"I love visiting new places, I'll take you, if you want." He said honestly.

She spun around to look at him, her grey eyes showing her surprise. "Really? You'd take me?" he nodded. "Seriously? You're not just getting my hopes up?" She looked at him suspiciously and he laughed.

Moving forward slowly, he took her hand in his and pulled her forward to meet him. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and back, hugging her gently in case she fought him. She relaxed for a moment, resting her chin on his shoulder. He smelled good, like the ocean, but also like some kind of dust, probably from the store he worked at.

She pulled away from him and walked a few feet back down the alley, then stopped and turned to look at him. "You coming?" She asked softly as he continued to stand there and stare at her.

Sunlight glinted off her hair and her grey eyes sparkled as she watched him. A light blush colored her face when she realized what he was doing, but she didn't turn away. She tried to stare back, but his aquamarine eyes were too intimidating.

He moved toward her, reaching out and gently grabbing one of her hands. He pulled her forward to him and she thought if he got much closer he might be able to hear her heart pounding. He brought his face closer to her and brushed his cheek against hers. She noticed his face had a bit more color to it than usual and nearly laughed at the idea of him being able to blush. He brushed his lips against her cheek almost teasingly, but she knew he was testing her, giving her a chance to say no.

She turned her face and caught him in a gentle kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she nearly swooned in the feeling. She'd never kissed anyone before and he certainly knew how to make it a memorable experience. His lips were soft and warm and she missed them the moment he broke the kiss and leaned back to look down at her.

His face was blank, but she could see in his eyes how happy he was. It was then that they realized someone was standing right beside them. They both jumped in surprise as they stared up at the threatening silver-haired man that was gazing down at them in amusement.

"Cute." Sephiroth stated with a smirk as he walked away.

_**End of Chapter 4**_


	5. Meddling and Departure

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney, you get the drill...

**A/N:** This story is pretty fun to write, but I'm not sure how much longer it's going to be. I was getting really bored with the scenery, so all that is going to change, too. Thank you _chibified kitsunes_, for this story's first review! It's good to know that someone is reading this and enjoying it! I actually updated much sooner because of your review.

**Warnings this chapter**: fluff, annoying meddling friends, and yup, more bloody violence.

**Chapter 5**

Yuffie bounced around her apartment happily, throwing things onto her bed. Random bits of clothing or equipment, snacks, magazines, video games. Whatever she thought she would need. She stopped to inspect the damage done to her already messy apartment and sighed. She really couldn't believe that he was going to take her on a vacation! And better than that, he had kissed her! Yuffie Kisaragi is dateless no more! She pumped her fists in the air.

"What are you doing?" Tifa asked from the doorway, suppressing a laugh. It looked like the ninja had gotten in a fight with her apartment and won.

"Packing!" Yuffie screeched, leaping at the martial artist and giving her a big hug.

"Packing? For what?" Tifa asked, confused.

"Riku said he would take me on a vacation! He said we could go whenever I wanted, so I asked him if we could leave in the morning, and he agreed!" She bounced in a circle.

"Since when have you two been such good friends?" Cloud appeared behind Tifa in the doorway and scowled at the idea.

"Since he kissed me while we were taking a walk." She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Cloud! I can date whoever I want!"

Cloud mumbled something darkly but Tifa elbowed him in the ribs. "Would you prefer Leon? At least she's happy, look at her!" She whispered threateningly in his ear.

"Well anyway, I think you should go talk to Leon." Tifa said, stepping further into the room to see what Yuffie was packing.

"Why? What does he want? To yell at me for going insane?" Yuffie spat. She stomped on a shirt and pretended it was his face.

Tifa almost laughed, almost. "Actually, he's been really upset about this. He's felt really guilty about that mission to the Maw, and I think you should go talk to him." She stated, crossing her arms. "And you're not insane." She added.

"I'll think about it." Yuffie muttered, pulling a huge duffel bag out from under her bed. Tifa watched her warily and sat down on the bed. She noticed Cloud still glaring at them from the doorway and motioned for him to leave. He closed the door rather violently behind him.

"Are you sure it's such a good idea to take a vacation right now? I mean, what if something happens and you need help?" She blurted it out, but decided it needed to be said.

Yuffie stopped what she was doing and stared down at the floor. "I'll be fine, Riku will be there." She said quietly. To be honest, she had thought a lot about her 'condition', and had decided that she's going to have nightmares in her own room, or somewhere else, so she might as well try to enjoy herself. Tifa sighed.

"If it's what you want. Here, I picked them up for you." She handed Yuffie a new bottle of pills with a prescription. "Just be careful, try not to get yourself worked up." She hugged Yuffie before turning to leave. She gave the ninja one last worried glance before shoving Cloud out of her way and disappearing through the door.

**xxxxxxx**

All she heard was the soft clicking of her boots on the hard, stone floor. She couldn't see anything, but she knew she was in a cave. She felt along the wall as she moved forward. There had to be an exit somewhere, and she was determined to find it. This really didn't seem like the kind of place she would want to be lost in. The rock surface under her hand was rough and jagged, dipping in and out of her reach and making her stumble to find it again. Several times during her search she thought she heard talking, or footsteps, or even breathing right behind her, but her calls were unanswered and the moment she turned the sounds stopped.

She kept going, slipping as the ground began to slope downward. She felt a ragged breath on the back of her neck and spun around, fear gripping her. She could see anything, but assumed whatever it was had vanished. She stood there for a moment, listening to the soft, distant echoes around the cave. The sounds faded briefly, and she turned to continue.

Stepping forward bravely, the ground had disappeared and Yuffie found herself tumbling down a rough cave slope. She cried out in pain and she scraped her bare arms and legs on the harsh stone. Stars exploded in her line of sight as her head collided with the floor.

Yuffie laid there for several minutes, panting and clenching her teeth in pain. She felt warm blood running down the side of her leg and knew she must have scraped it pretty badly. She sat up, squinting around the cavern in the hopes that there was an exit nearby.

There was a dim light up ahead of her, and she scrambled to her feet and rushed forward. She felt her way around a corner and crept forward quietly. She didn't see or hear anything, so she moved forward and noticed a small torch nailed to the wall. She stared at in curiosity.

_'Lost?'_

She jumped backwards and yelped in surprise. A small girl was standing not too far in front of her, wearing a huge coat and scarf, which obscured most of her face. The first thing Yuffie noticed about her was her eyes, they were missing. There was blood coursing from the black holes, and Yuffie's voice caught in her throat as she tried to respond. Before she could really think of what to say, the girl pointed.

_'You want to end up like one of them..?'_ The voice was angry, threatening her. Yuffie turned to look where the girl was pointing and screamed in horror.

The cave up ahead had vines hanging from the walls and ceilings, concealing the tunnel behind it. The torch shone on the tunnel entrance, lighting up the horrific scene ahead. Mangled and broken body parts dangled from the vines and littered the floor. Blood ran from the tunnel entrance to pool at the ninja's feet. It was obvious that the owners of these body parts had fought wildly to keep them, and had definitely failed. Yuffie's eyes widened in terror as she realized what she was seeing. Heads lay scattered among the assortment of horror, blank eyes staring at her. She wanted to scream, but her voice wasn't responding. She clawed at her throat but to no avail.

Something behind the curtain of death moved, a deep, resonating growl echoing around the cavern.

Yuffie didn't stay to see what would emerge, she turned and fell, throwing herself to her feet again and dashing back into the cavern. She ran headlong down the cavern path, slamming herself around corners and feeling her way along the cave desperately. She was in darkness again and couldn't see where she was going. Adrenaline pumped through her body as panic rose up in her, making her run recklessly through the cave. She turned to try and see if anything was following her and slammed into a sharp wall.

A light flashed in her eyes and she held a hand to her head in pain. She felt blood matting her hair and tried to stand. A breathy groan behind her made her stop and shiver in fear. She turned to look, but couldn't see a thing. Yuffie knew it was there, though, staring straight at her. She could feel its breath on her face and the foul stench of death filled her senses.

Yuffie's wild scream echoed through the cave as the creature tore into her.

**xxxxxxx**

Yuffie jolted out of bed, tangling herself in her blankets as she fell to the floor with a strangled cry. She laid there panting and staring at the ceiling. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she was soaked with sweat, she held a hand to her forehead and tried to relax. The tears continued to flow, however.

"This is ridiculous.. What's happening to me?" She whimpered softly to the darkness around her. She sat up and glanced at the clock, 1:40 a.m. She looked around her room and shuddered in fear.

'Great, now I'll be up all night.' She thought sadly, curling her knees up to her chest. She put her head against her knees and cried.

After a few minutes trying to calm down, she threw her clothes on and walked out the door. The last place she wanted to be was in her cave-like apartment, she'd sleep outside if she had to. She walked along the silent streets of Hollow Bastian, staring up at the starry sky. The chill wind whistled through her hair and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The only sound she could hear was the chirp of crickets and the thudding of her footsteps on the street. She sighed sadly and leaned on a nearby wall. 'I wish Riku was here…'

She thought for a minute, then looked around her. Where was his apartment anyway? She couldn't have been too far away. She kept walking for several blocks then took a right. She came to a long building and gazed up at it. There was a line of doors and she walked down until she found number 117. She stood there contemplating her actions for a moment, then bravely reached forward and tried the doorknob.

'Brave boy..' she thought, it was unlocked.

She eased the door open and peered inside, praying that it was the right place. She had been here once before, but she was terrible about directions. Leaning inside she noticed a familiar pair of shoes set next to the entrance carpet and sighed in relief. She slipped inside quietly and closed the door. She took her boots off and set them gently beside his shoes.

She padded softly through the house, amazed at how clean it was. Riku must have been a neat freak. And she noticed he had a pretty comfortable living condition, he could afford all this by himself? She couldn't believe that the item shop was paying that well.

It wasn't hard to find his room, and she was thankful that he actually slept with the door open. Sneaking inside, she crept up to his bed and looked down at him happily. She didn't know what it was about him, but he made her feel so safe. She silently lifted up the covers and slipped into bed next to him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but for some reason she didn't feel awkward about it. He shifted slightly but didn't wake up, so she smiled to herself and snuggled up to him. He mumbled something and threw his arm over her in his sleep.

**xxxxxxx**

Bright sunlight filtered into the room through the blinds, giving it a warm glow as Riku opened his eyes. He noticed immediately that he wasn't alone, and stared down at the girl sleeping soundly beside him. Wait, soundly? He leaned closer and listened to her breathing. It was even and calm, she wasn't sweating in fear, and she even seemed to have a blissful expression on her face. When did she get here anyway? He watched her curiously, and laid down again. He wrapped his arm around her protectively. She rolled over and buried her face in his chest, making him smile. She brought her arms up to her chest and dug her fingernails into his bare skin. He ran his fingers through her soft hair and she sighed happily.

The sudden attention woke her up, and Yuffie opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him. She blushed darkly as he gave her a questioning look.

"I was lonely…" She whispered. He nodded, "It's okay." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she smiled again.

"Can we go now? Please?" She asked softly, her grey eyes pleading with him. He gazed down at her sadly, she must have had another nightmare. He was glad she had come to him instead of hiding in her room and suffering.

"Yeah, just let me get cleaned up and we can go." He hugged her before climbing out of bed.

"Want some breakfast?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her as he stretched. She nodded enthusiastically. He started to leave the room when she spoke up again.

"Can I use your shower?" She groaned, tugging on her hair. He laughed and pointed down the hall.

"Towels are in the cupboard."

**xxxxxxx**

Yuffie shook her wet hair happily, sending drops of water all over the sparkling clean bathroom. She finished getting dressed and brushed her hair, whistling as she bounced out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. She plopped herself down at the table and looked at Riku expectantly.

He gave her a warm smile and set a plate of food in front of her. "I'll be back in a couple minutes, I'm still not ready to go." She thanked him and dug into her breakfast. They must have been the best eggs and bacon she had ever eaten. Of course, she had been missing quite a few meals recently, she was probably starving to death.

By the time Riku had finished getting ready for the day and had returned to the kitchen, Yuffie had taken it upon herself to clean up after breakfast. He stared at her in surprise as she scrubbed at the countertop ruthlessly.

"I thought you were anti-clean." he said suspiciously. She gave him a dirty look.

"Go finish packing if you're just going to pick on me for helping!" She whined playfully, hitting the wall next to his head with a sponge. He dodged out of the room yelling something about a deadly ninja sponge and she ran after him.

She barreled into his room and he leapt to the side as she almost collided with his chest. The force of her leap sent her tumbling over the bed and she landed in a heap against the wall.

Riku laughed, "Yuffie, you're such a kid!" He turned to start pulling perfectly folded clothing out of his dresser and shoving it in a duffel bag.

Yuffie pouted. "You can't call me a kid, I'm older than you!" She stuck out her tongue and he hit her in the face with a sock.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked quickly, trying to divert her attention away from punishing him.

She paused, "Kind of. I wasn't really sure what to take and then Tifa was giving me crap about leaving in my time of need or something."

Riku turned and looked at her sadly. "Personally, I think there's something weird about all of this, and I have a feeling that this trip will help me figure out what. I'm not ignoring that you need help, I'm trying to find a way to help you that actually works. Honestly, I think them giving you pills is a load of shit." He said seriously.

His words made Yuffie want to cry and scream, it hurt to know that he knew she was going crazy. But then again, it felt really good to know that he knew she was going crazy and wanted to be with her anyway. She wasn't sure how she should feel about it.

She crawled up on the bed and watched him finish packing. As soon as he was done he moved over to her and took her hand. He leaned down and kissed her, and she knew that no matter what, he was going to be there at her side. He lead her out of the room and down the hall. They slipped their shows back on without a word and he opened the door for her. He dropped his bag on the doorstep and took his keys out of his pocket, locking the door behind him. He turned to look at her again, taking her hand and picking his duffel bag up. They walked down the road towards Yuffie's apartment.

**xxxxxxx**

"Hey! Cid! We're here, is the ship ready?" Riku called to the gummi builder as they entered the hangar, still holding hands.

Yuffie gazed up at the ceiling high above them, it had been a long time since she had been in here. It smelled weird, like oil and cigarette, probably not the best or safest combination, but that was Cid for you. She looked up ahead and her heart fell. Leon.

He was standing there talking to Cid, Tifa, and Aerith, and was still as a statue when they saw the two approaching. She noticed with interest that Leon's face darkened when he looked down at their linked hands.

"Yuffie! Why didn't you come talk to us last night?" He said sharply "I was worried…"Riku squeezed her hand protectively.

"Why? You never cared before, besides, you would have just told me I couldn't go!" She said sharper than she had intended. Leon was taken aback.

"Yuffie, this is serious! You have a problem that needs attention, you can't just go off on some adventure! You could get hurt or worse!" he said somberly.

"If something happens Riku might not be able to take care of you. We're just worried Yuffie, it's like you think this is just a joke!" Tifa interjected, stepping forward with her hands clasped almost pleadingly.

"This is something I want to do, problem or not! I've accepted the risks, and I know what I'm doing! Besides, if something does happen, none of you know what to do about it any better that Riku does! All you'd do is shove some pills down my throat and give it a couple days! We're going, and that's that!" Yuffie moved forward toward the gummi ship Cid had prepared for them. The pilot himself stood in front of it, looking down at the two and chewing on the harassed end of a cigarette.

"Cid! You can't seriously be thinking about letting them take the gummi ship and leave!" Tifa cried helplessly.

The cigarette drifted over to the other corner of his mouth. "Fuck it. I say let the kids go if they wanna go. I always thought Yuffie was a little crazy, but this whole thing has made her a bit more responsible as far as I see it. 'sides, I always liked Riku." He tossed the boy the keys to the gummi and moved aside for them.

Yuffie waved to her friends and dashed on board. She tossed her bag into an empty seat. Riku followed right behind her and sat down in the pilot's chair. They waved from the cockpit as the ship fired up and they prepared to leave. Aerith waved and smiled warmly, Tifa waved halfheartedly, and Leon gave them all a dark glare before stomping out of the hangar.

"You ready for this?" Riku asked, flashing Yuffie a grin. She shouted enthusiastically and jumped into a seat. Tifa watched with worry as the gummi ship ascended up over the town and disappeared in the clear morning sky.

_**End of Chapter 5**_


	6. Twilight Town

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. But I'm sure that's pretty obvious.

**A/n**: I'm sorry, this chapter is kind of short and I don't have time right now to thanks all my reviews respectively, but I do appreciate your reviews! Thank you! I wrote this in a little bit of a hurry, too, so I'm sorry if it's not very good. Next chapter will be better.

**Warnings**: A bit of blood and violence.

**Chapter Six**

Yuffie banged her head on the floor impatiently. She stared across the cockpit to Riku, who was setting the auto-pilot. He turned around to check on her and laughed.

"You're using it upside down." He said, pointing at her. She stared back at him innocently.

"What?" She asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you sitting in your chair upside down?" He asked, taking the seat next to her.

"Oh. I was too airsick to notice." She muttered, rolling onto the floor and staring up at him from her back. He nodded, pretending to understand.

"Are we there yet? Hey wait, where are we even going?" She stood up rather shakily and wobbled over to her seat again.

"Twilight Town, we'll be there in a little over an hour." He watched her plop down in the seat next to him and huff. She looked pretty sick, but seemed to have it under control.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her over to him. They sat there happily for a long time, just staring ahead at the console in front of them. Yuffie closed her eyes. She couldn't believe this was really happening, she was going to get to visit other worlds like Sora! She'd always been jealous of him, no one treated him like a little kid, and he was younger than her!

But here she was, going on a trip with Sora's best friend. It was pretty much an extended date. Her stomach growled and interrupted her thoughts.

"I'm hungry." She groaned. Riku nodded in understanding and got to his feet.

"Well, let's go find some breakfast." He walked down the aisle to the kitchen in the back of the ship. Yuffie bounced after him.

"I can't believe Leon actually let us go, I thought he was going to fight us first!" She said, poking through the cupboards. She glanced up at Riku when he didn't respond, only to find him poised over the countertop with a dark glare.

"What's wrong?" She asked nervously. He looked up like he was startled, the glare vanishing.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking. What do you want to eat?" He asked, trying to smile and failing miserably.

She held up a cheap cup of ramen. "I was just gonna eat this. Did you want one?" She watched him suspiciously, but he nodded and took the cup she offered him. He turned away sharply and if she didn't know any better she might have thought he was upset with her.

**xxxxxxx**

"Uuuugh…" Yuffie hung her head over the toilet bowl, her face pale from airsickness. She coughed violently as the ship jerked lightly to the side.

Riku appeared in the doorway behind her and cringed. "Umm, we're here, Yuffie." She leapt out of the way as she dashed out of the bathroom and out the door, throwing herself from the gummi ship.

She landed on soft green grass and thanked Leviathan for solid ground. Pressing herself into the grass she sighed in relief. Riku walked up behind her and smirked.

"If you get so sick, why did you want to go on this trip?" He asked softly, leaning down next to her and rubbing her back. She sighed gently.

"I love visiting new places, it's worth getting sick I guess." Her head began to clear and she sat up, looking around at her new surroundings.

"Wow, Riku, this place is beautiful." Her eyes were wide as she stared around the courtyard. There were brick walls all around them, and glass doors leading into a huge mansion. She climbed to her feet with Riku's help and moved forward. He took her hand and lead her forward, offering her a smile.

He pushed the doors open and they walked into the mansion.

**xxxxxxx**

"Come on, you're so slow!" Yuffie bounced excitedly down the street, tugging on Riku's arm. She pulled him into a clothing shop she had found and glanced around the large room excitedly.

"This is so cool, the most interesting place I've ever shopped was Traverse Town! Look at all these neat styles. You should get some new clothes, too!" She chirped, pouncing on a rack of shirts and digging through them. Riku stared at her in wonder.

"I had no idea you liked to shop." He stated flatly. She turned to give him a funny look and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Why not?" She turned to look back at the clothing.

"Well, I guess I just never thought that ninjas could like shopping. You always seemed to tomboyish to like anything as girly as shopping for new clothes." He said boldly. She spun around to face him again.

"Why are you always picking on me for being a ninja? Are you jealous?" She put her hands on her hips. Riku leaned forward until their noses were almost touching.

"Maybe I am." he breathed calmly. "I grew up around some really girly girls. Maybe I like it when they can fend for themselves." She blushed deeply and tried to look away. She heard giggling somewhere behind her, but her mind was to occupied by the boy in front of her that was slowly violating her personal space. He brushed his lips against her cheek in a fluid motion, making her shudder at the touch.

Someone slammed into her roughly and she stumbled back a few steps.

"What the hell!" She cried, nearly losing her balance. She stared down into a pair of enormous green eyes.

"Who the fuck are you!" She leapt back in surprise. The other girl did the same.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt anything!" The girl blushed deeply and bowed in apology. "My name is Olette." Yuffie and Riku stared at her in surprise.

"Hey, I know you! You're one of Sora's friends! You live here, right?" Riku said quickly, before Yuffie could decide she didn't like the younger girl.

Olette beamed happily. "Sora was talking about me?" She looked like she was daydreaming.

"Um, yea. You're friends with Hayner and Pence, he used to talk about you guys a lot." As if on cue the two boys skidded around the corner of the building and charged into the shop after their friend. Yuffie huffed and turned back to the clothes rack. Olette watched her sadly, feeling guilty about interrupting the two. She scooted over to Riku as he stood conversing with her best friends.

"Hey, you should take her on the train to Sunset Hill, it's beautiful there!" She whispered to him. Before he could think of an answer she grabbed her two friends and dragged them out of the shop.

"Come hang out some time, Riku!" Hayner called back to him, giving a small wave before he had been dragged back around the corner.

"There's something wrong with those kids." Yuffie muttered, watching them go. She clutched several items of clothing to her chest and walked over to the cashier.

**xxxxxxx**

It was freezing, absolutely freezing. Yuffie shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as best she could. She seemed to be in the middle of an ocean, treading water frantically in a failed attempt to stay out of the cold. It seeped under her skin, making her feel chilled even to her bones. It was difficult to move, but she tried her best.

Glancing around her nervously she noticed that it was very foggy, making it only visible in a fifty foot radius. There was an eerie glow rising up from under the water and penetrating into the darkness around her. She swam forward, determined to find a way out of this arctic ocean.

Her muscles ached from the strain and her teeth chattered. She had barely been swimming for five minutes and she was worn out, hardly able to move. She began to panic as she felt something approaching, coming up from beneath the placid water. Looking around her for any means of escape, she noticed a web of rusted metal bars not far from her, rising like a skeleton tower from the ocean.

Pushing her body to its limits, she reached a low bar and pulled herself out of the water. Her muscles cramped and screamed in pain but she pulled herself up all the same. Reaching another bar she pulled herself up onto it and braced herself between several of the rusted beams.

The light filtering up through the water flickered warningly and she knew she wasn't far enough away.

Groaning from the strain she reached up again and hoisted her aching body onto another beam, then swung up onto another one across from it. She began to panic when her body started to give out and she slipped, swinging her arms wildly and barely catching herself before falling. She tried to climb faster as the creature below the freezing ocean drew closer, its grating squeals already audible from her place high above the water.

She shrieked in fear as the water exploded from the force, splashing her with more of the freezing liquid. Yuffie had no idea what she had been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. A man climbed skillfully up the rusted bars. He almost looked like some kind of heartless, he didn't have a face and his body radiated darkness. His arms seemed unnaturally long and he reached out threateningly to Yuffie.

She cried out and fell back, barely catching herself on a bar right behind her and scraping the skin on her elbow. He lurched forward and tried to grab her, knocking her off balance and sending her tumbling down several bars. She caught a beam next to her and screamed in pain and she felt her wrist crack from the stress. Slipping again a beam hit her right in the back, stunning her for a moment.

The shadowed figure swooped down and grabbed her shattered wrist, yanking on it and making her cry out in pain again. He pulled her towards him and she felt the rusted bar grating on her skin roughly. She grimaced and tried to pull back, but her adrenaline failed to do its job and her muscles gave out. She felt sharp teeth rip into her numbing arm, somewhat muted pain shooting through the injured limb. She screamed again and tried desperately to find her strength.

Bringing her fist back, she punch the man in what should have been his face, but she might a well have thrown a flower at him. He growled fiercely and ripped into her arm again, sending blood coursing down his chin and dripping into the water below. What looked like small, needle like fish appeared in the water, and Yuffie realized how close she had come to falling back in. Her eyes widened in fear as the needle fish scrambled wildly in her blood, fighting each other for the warm, red liquid.

She jumped back in fear and slammed her head into another beam when she felt a sticky tongue on her neck. It trailed down her throat to her collarbone and she shrieked loudly and thrashed to get away from it. The man laughed deeply and gripped her tighter, bringing his teeth down to the vulnerable skin on her neck and biting sharply into her flesh. Using the remainder of her strength she lashed out at him and released herself, falling limply down into the cold water feet below her.

Instant pain wracked her body as the thousands of needle fish attacked, ripping painfully into her skin and tissue. She cried out, but only got a mouthful of water as she sank beneath the surface. She didn't know how she would die first, bleeding to death or drowning. Agony filled her being and she blacked out as the pain became too much.

**xxxxxxx**

Her eyes flew open and she panicked, thrashing under the thin blanket that covered her. Rolling to the side she threw herself up against the wall and her eyes darted around the room as she tried to gather herself. She felt like her heart was going to explode it was beating so fast. Finally settling her gaze on the boy in front of her she glared suspiciously.

"Who are you! Where am I!" he reached forward to try and touch her shoulder but she slapped his hand away and tried to press herself into the wall even further.

"Yuffie, calm down!" He tried to reach out again and when she went to slap his hand away he grabbed it.

She panicked again, throwing herself against him in an impromptu attack. He held her arm tightly in the air as they tumbled backwards off the bunk and rolled across the floor. She kicked him in the stomach and he grimaced, but pulled her closer to him. Being to near for kicks she resorted to punching him, only to find every move matched as he struggled to keep her under control. He slammed her into the floor as she began to scream and bite at him. She managed to catch him in the neck with her teeth and he yelled in pain. He pinned her arms to her sides and held her still. She thrashed violently beneath him, trying to bite him again and free her arms from his grasp.

"Yuffie, calm down! It's me! Riku! Don't you remember me?" He cried, trying to get her to look him in the eyes.

"What? Riku?" She inhaled sharply and held her breath, staring up at him. As realization dawned on her she relaxed. Tears rolled down her face and she whispered broken bits of a conversation to herself.

Riku stared at her in a mixture of fear and surprise. Climbing up he helped her to her feet and hugged her tightly. He stroked her hair and she whimpered into his shoulder.

"Riku, oh my god. What's happening to me?" She gasped, holding a hand to her head. He looked at her sadly.

He lead her in to the bathroom and pulled something from the cabinet. She took the proffered object and looked at it.

"But I thought you didn't want me to take these pills…" She murmured, looking up at him. He shrugged.

"Maybe it'll help until I can find a way to help you." he said quietly, giving her a cup of water and watching her down the pill.

She walked out of the gummi ship and leapt down to the grass outside. Laying down on her back she stared up at the night sky. The moon was barely visible above the brick wall of the courtyard. She watched it slowly rise and somewhere in the distance she heard a deep bell sound, indicating four in the morning. She wondered how long Riku had sat there watching over her.

Riku himself spread out on the grass beside her, folding his arms behind his head. She looked over at him for a moment then looked back up to the stars.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you." She said softly. He looked over at her.

"It's alright Yuffie, I know you didn't mean to." He smiled at her but she just felt worse.

"Thanks for taking care of me…" She rolled onto her stomach to watch him. He smiled and nodded. Quickly climbing to his feet he offered her his hand.

"Come on, I have something I want to show you." She took his hand and followed him into the mansion.

**End of Chapter Six** _Thanks for reading!_


	7. Trick or Treat

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom hearts or any related content. I just own the plot of this story.

**A/n: **This story is turning out to be kind of long. It's getting a little harder to write, and I'm working on fixing that. I even proofread this chapter so you won't have to suffer through bad writing skills. No nightmare this chapter, time for plot development!

**To the reviewers: **

Chrisheller: I know, I'm sorry it's sloppy. I tend to type super fast and can't catch my mistakes, I'm trying to get better about it. I get so upset when I find a dumb grammar mistake or something, it's kind of silly. I loved your review, you are right on track! I'm so happy you caught that!

Blood Pixie: Don't worry, you're right on track too! I'm actually proud that the horror scenes make you feel a little sick, that's pretty much what I was aiming for. Thank you for the compliment, I'm really happy to know that you like my story!

Chaotic Rei: Thank you, and yes, I felt that the moment needed to be ruined somehow… It killed me to do that 'cuz Olette kind of scares me, but the scene felt too perfect otherwise. And yes, Riku is supposed to be head over heals for our favorite defective ninja.

I'm sorry if I missed anyone, thank you all so much! If anyone wants some art, you should let me know. I love drawing too, and I've been so obsessed with writing I haven't gotten a chance.

**Chapter Seven**

The sky had turned a brilliant shade of orange and long, pink tendrils of color trailed out through the sparse clouds. The horizon glowed spectacularly in the distance as the color crept up into the sky. Yuffie sighed happily as she watched the sun rise over Twilight Town. She glanced over at Riku and smirked at the tinge of orange that his hair had taken on. Hearing her muffled giggle he glanced at her suspiciously and the sunlight glinted off his eyes. Her gaze softened and she leaned against him, kissing the side of his neck lightly. His eyes were so beautiful, she wasn't sure if she should be watching them or the sky.

"We should go soon." He said softly to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She nodded and got to her feet, and they began the long walk back to the train station.

**xxxxxxx**

Yuffie watched sadly from the gummi ship as the town fell away below them. She missed the town already, but she was eager to see the next world. She turned to watch Riku as he picked up the extra baggage they had obtained from Twilight Town. Shoving some of her shopping bags unceremoniously into the closet, he noticed her watching him.

"You don't want to try and catch some sleep?" He asked dumbly, knowing her answer already. She shook her head and brought her knees up to her chin.

He moved across the cabin and offered her his hand. She accepted it and he lead her into the back room across from the kitchen. It was more or less a small bedroom, with two bunk-beds tucked into either wall. Yuffie quickly scrambled onto her bed and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Riku took a seat on the bed beside her and leaned against the wall.

"Do you remember what happened when your nightmares started?" Riku blurted, feeling guilty for making her think about it.

"I'm not sure, I just remember waking up after having this really horrible nightmare and thinking it was the worst experience of my life. I think Tifa was there, too." She paused to think about it and Riku leaned forward as her voice grew softer.

"We were on a mission somewhere, I can't really remember though." She scooted closer to him, as if he could protect her. Riku was more than willing to oblige, and wrapped his arms around her as she crawled into his lap.

Yuffie fell silent as he hugged her gently. He thought about what she had told him, it all seemed a bit suspicious. Maybe if he got a chance, he would ask Leon about it. He needed to work faster, though, he knew that much. He wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out before she truly did go insane.

**xxxxxxx**

"Tifa." She jumped as the harsh male voice boomed in her ear.

"Leon! What the hell!" She spun around angrily and glared daggers at him. "What do you want?" Her heart beat loudly in her ears and she tried to calm down. He almost smirked to himself at the realization that he had scared her, but kept his serious expression as he explained.

"Seifer and his idiotic friends escaped. Cloud is following them right now, we think they're headed back towards the Great Maw." He gestured out the door and Tifa scrambled from her seat. She followed Leon out the door and up the stairs to the Bailey.

Reaching the Maw in record time, she slowed down her jog until she met Cloud standing on the top of the cliff. He looked back at her and offered to take her hand. He lead her forward to a heavy metal stake planted in the hard stone floor. She released his hand and approached the cliff's sharp edge. The wind howled unmercifully through her hair as she gazed down at the dark depths. A thick rope lead off the edge of the cliff and taking a deep breath, she swung herself down and grasped the rope tightly. She looked up at the two men above her, grim faced as they watched her shimmy down the rope several feet. When there was enough room, Cloud climbed down onto the rope after her and slowly lowered himself down.

Tifa leapt the last ten feet to the rock floor and breathed a sigh of relief. She moved forward cautiously as Cloud and Leon landed behind her. As she darted forward, she felt Cloud's hand fall heavily on her shoulder. He pulled her back and moved in front of her, making sure she stayed close behind him. The three moved quickly towards the mesa in the middle of the crater. Upon reaching the sharp ledge of the mesa, Cloud helped Tifa step up and climb over the edge, then jumped up after her. Leon followed close behind and the three of them crept into the ruins.

Loud voices could be heard echoing around them as they weaved through the remains of the city. Cloud lead the way, following the voices until they found their way into a large, somewhat destroyed room. They hid behind a pile of debris as they scanned the room. Seifer and his friends kneeled off to the side, watching a pacing woman intently.

Tifa nearly gasped when she set eyes on the woman, and held her breath nervously. The woman was tall, with blood red hair and vicious golden gloves. Her outfit was very odd, with the shoulders and back stained red, and a long, furry blood red train trailing down to the ground from her hips. She carried a very unusual double-ended weapon, and swung it threateningly as she spoke to the three teenagers. Her long high-heeled boots thudded hollowly as she walked back and forth in front of them.

"I cannot believe how pathetic you are!" She growled angrily at the three youths. She stopped in front of them and swung her weapon dangerously. Moving forward threateningly, she grabbed the front of Seifer's shirt and hoisted him up off the ground.

"Especially you." She cooed in his face. He cringed slightly, but she had turned her attention towards Cloud, Leon, and Tifa.

Tifa held her breath, this woman seemed eerily familiar, but she couldn't place where she might have seen her before. As if hearing her thoughts, the woman turned and dropped Seifer, letting him scamper back to his friends. Leon's eyes widened as the red woman drew closer towards them, a small red heartless symbol now visible on her chest.

"Vell, vell, if it isn't Tifa Lockhart. Just the girl I vanted to see." Tifa gasped in fear as the woman walked forward.

Cloud leapt forward when Tifa fell, grabbing her before she hit the ground. He glared darkly at the woman as she laughed viciously. Throwing Tifa's now unconscious form over his shoulder, he turned and sprinted back down the hall. Leon hesitated before following them. If Cloud thought it was wise to retreat, he should listen.

**xxxxxxx**

"What's happening to her?" Leon called out to Cloud, struggling to keep Tifa from hurting herself.

She let out yet another ear shattering scream and thrashed wildly. Her eyes were blank and it was obvious she couldn't see them. Bucking wildly under the weight of the two men, Cloud nearly toppled off of her. Aerith whimpered worriedly in the corner as she flipped through a thick book, trying to find something to calm her down.

Tifa threw her head back violently and slammed it into a pillow. Leon lurched forward and grabbed her head in his hands, trying to stop her from doing anymore damage. Cloud grunted in pain as her foot broke loose of his hold and collided with his shoulder.

"Do you think this has anything to do with what happened to Yuffie?" Cloud asked Aerith. She nodded fearfully and ran over to help as Tifa let out another shriek and nearly threw the two men off of her.

"I couldn't find anything that wouldn't hurt her, we're just going to have to ride it out!" She called to them as Tifa's screams filled the room. She gazed down at her friend in worry and stroked the hair out of her face.

**xxxxxxx**

"Come on, we're almost there! What are you going to wear?" Yuffie bounced across the cabin and clung to Riku's back, nearly knocking him over. He stumbled to the side and finished checking the gummi ship's console, then carried her back into the bedroom.

"Well what are you going to wear?" he asked suspiciously, watching her leap across the room and throw open the dresser drawer. She began yanking different articles of clothing out and tossing them aside until she found what she was looking for.

"We're supposed to look weird and spooky, right? My old Wutai ninja costume will work perfectly!" She held up a severely ripped tan cloak and almost comical hat with ears and a face. Riku couldn't help but laugh.

"That's cute, you really wore that on your ninja missions?" He poked it in one of its eyes and Yuffie glared darkly at him.

"It's traditional to make your own disguise, I worked really hard on this." She mumbled, more to herself than to him. He patted her on the back.

"No, it really is kind of cool, it'll work great." He walked over to the closet and threw it open.

"What are you gonna wear?" Yuffie asked as she slipped the cloak on and pulled the hat down over her face. She watched as Riku pulled his old Organization coat out of the closet and put it on. He pulled his hair back and flipped the hood up, hiding most of his face from view.

"There, how's that?" He asked, turning to look at her.

Yuffie burst out laughing. "That is so cheesy, Riku! At least mine is original!" He stared at her blankly as she rolled on the floor.

"….I have to go land the ship." He muttered, stepping over her as he walked out of the room.

"Aww, Riku, I like it, it looks good on you!" She called after him. He waved a hand in the air behind him and she pouted at his rude gesture. "Okay, I'm sorry!" She sprang up and chased after him. She tripped in the aisle and fell forward as the ship jerked sharply. Her stomach flipped dangerously and she pushed herself up from the floor.

"We're here." Riku said as he offered her a hand up. She slapped it away playfully and nearly dove out of the gummi ship. She stood just outside the door, surveying their new surroundings.

"Brr, it's cold!" She wrapped her arms around herself and stared up at the clear night sky. Riku wrapped an arm around her shivering form and hugged her tightly.

"Do you know where else you want to go next? We can't be gone too much longer, I only got a few days off from work." He said quietly in her ear. She shuddered at how close he was in the cold, the heat from his breath rolling down her neck. He noticed her shudder and grinned to himself.

"I'm not sure, I'd really like to go see Destiny Islands though. But you don't have to take me there if you don't want to." She said, trying to wiggle away from him.

"I'll take you there if you want to see it, it's not a big deal." Riku said, watching his breath cloud up around him in interest.

"How 'bout we go for a walk then find some food for once?" He asked, letting his breath fall heavily on her jaw line.

She nodded and all but leapt from his side, staring at him as he stepped forward. She knew exactly what he was getting at, and wasn't sure she was ready for any more drastic changes in her life. He reached forward and took her hand, leading her out into the pumpkin patch before them. He thought he heard a faint beeping from the gummi ship, but Yuffie chose that moment to try and throw a pumpkin at him.

He cried out and dodged it just in time, watching it smash into the side of the gummi ship. "You know, I bet somebody owns this field, and I bet they're gonna be mad when they find out some ninja punk has been harassing their pumpkins." She threw another one and it hit him in the chest, thumping painfully against his ribcage.

He took a few steps back, but managed to catch it. She laughed quietly before ducking behind a gate and running into the cemetery. Riku charged after her, dropping the pumpkin unceremoniously on the ground. Headstones stood in long rows down the packed cemetery, and he walked along cautiously as he searched for the energetic ninja.

Something rustled softly to his left and he spun around, creeping in the direction of the noise. He caught a glimpse of her costume's ear as she darted around behind another tall headstone. Riku doubled back, tossing a rock down the path he had just taken to draw her attention away. The overly paranoid ninja leaned back, trying to spot him as he crept around behind her.

Riku moved slowly, there she was. Yuffie was crouched behind a thick tombstone, watching the path he had just been on. He darted up behind her until he was only fifteen feet away, then he saw something that made his heart skip a beat and his blood run cold.

A pale shadow of a creature leaned over her, long, lanky arms extended out above her head, ready to grab her at any moment. Blood dripped down onto the ground behind her as it leaned closer, long sharp fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Riku's eyes widened in absolute horror.

"Yuffie!" He yelled, running forward. She jumped up and stared at him in sudden fear.

"What! What is it!" She threw herself against the headstone and glanced around her in terror. Riku stopped, the creature had vanished.

"Oh my god." He breathed, holding a hand to his head. Yuffie's eyes shot over to him as he stood there staring at her in horror. He began to shake in the realization of what had just happened and moved forward. He grabbed Yuffie and pulled her into a protective hug.

"It's nothing, I just thought I saw something. I guess it was just my shadow." He mumbled, lowering his black hood. She looked up at him fearfully, but decided she probably didn't want to know anyway.

**End of Chapter Seven**


	8. I See You

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Dirge of Cerberus, but the sick soul that wrote this story is indeed mine.

**A/n: **I'm sorry this chapter is so late, I totally lost track of time. The next one will be much sooner! This chapter is a little shorter than I hoped, but it's all I've got right now. I hope you like it!

**To the reviewers: **

I'm getting lazy due to lack of sleep, so I'm going to reply in a general paragraph. Thank you all so much! It makes me really happy to know that people enjoy what I painstakingly write. Yes, I'm pretty mean to Yuffie, but it's getting close to the end now. Well, I forget what I was really going to say, but thank you, everybody, even if you don't review!

**Chapter Eight**

"Fuck."

Leon slammed his palm down harshly on the cancel button in front of him. The static on the screen faded to black as the connection failed and he crossed his arms angrily.

"He didn't answer, they'd better be alright." He growled to Aerith. She stepped forward and clasped her hands to her lips.

"Of course they're alright, if anyone can take care of Yuffie it's Riku. Just try again later." She said softly as he walked past her. He paced the room anxiously as he thought.

"You haven't heard from Cloud yet?" he asked. Aerith shook her head.

"No, he would have called me right away if anything happened to Tifa." She replied, watching him nervously. He rubbed a hand against his jaw and turned to look at her.

"Any idea what we should do about this?" Leon asked. This time Aerith just looked at him sadly.

"I don't exactly know how to deal with the woman you saw, but I'm sure our best bet is going to be getting Sora's help." She jumped as Cid slammed the door open and charged into the room.

"What the fuck is goin' on now?" He called out, moving over to where Leon stood. "I leave for a couple hours and when I get back here Cloud jumps out of nowhere telling me all hell's broke loose?" Leon stared at the troubled pilot blankly.

"Well it's not my fault.. Anyway, we need Sora, this is way too dangerous. Something happened to Tifa, and we can't get a hold of Riku or Yuffie. We're just going to lay low for a bit and see what we can do, but I don't want to act without everyone here." Leon said, crossing his arms and pacing around the room.

"Well we don't have a working gummi ship right now, so we're going to have to wait for Yuffie to get back if we want to go anywhere." Cid said, taking a seat at the computer.

Leon held a hand to his head and walked back out of the room.

**xxxxxxx**

Riku watched helplessly as Yuffie tossed and turned in her sleep. She cried out several times, and she was sweating profusely, but what could he do? She needed to rest, though she hadn't fallen asleep without a fight. He rested a hand on her forehead as she mumbled to herself. Shaking his head, he got to his feet and left the room.

He walked past the seats and glanced over at the controls. A single red light was flashing at him on the console. He leaned forward curiously and pushed it.

"Riku, where the hell are you? We need to talk! Call me as soon as you get this!" His eyes widened in surprise as Leon's urgent voice broke through the silence. He stepped back and searched the controls, finally finding what he was looking for.

Cid looked up as the screen in front of him flickered to life. The message 'would you like to take this call?' appeared on the screen and he leaned back in his chair. Pressing a button on the keyboard, the screen lit up and Riku appeared.

"What's going on? Leon left me a message, he sounded really upset." his voice cracked through the speaker and Cid rubbed his chin.

"Hm, I dunno myself, kid, hold on." He looked behind him and motioned across the room for Leon to come over.

"Riku! Is everything alright there? How's Yuffie doing?" He stared up at the screen worriedly.

"She's fine, but we have a problem. You know how Yuffie has those nightmares?" Leon nodded and crossed his arms.

"Well she was sitting outside last night, and I saw it. That thing that she says follows her, I saw it. It's fucking real! It was right there, hovering over her like it was starving!" He slammed his hand down on the side of the controls and stared at the two men seriously.

"Shit…" Leon grabbed his hair and turned around, pacing in a wide circle before looking back at Riku and Cid.

"Something happened to Tifa yesterday. We were following Seifer into the dark depths and this woman was there. She did something to Tifa, I don't even know what happened and I was right next to her! I think whatever happened to make Yuffie see that monster happened to Tifa, only she got it worse. She spent a good three hours screaming her head off." Leon stated.

Riku sighed. "I'm going to get Sora, maybe he'll know what's going on, or what we can do, or something." A loud scream sounded from down the aisle and Riku jumped, spinning to stare back at the bedroom door.

"What happened? Is Yuffie okay?" Leon rushing closer to the screen, as if he could help.

"Yeah, she does that when she's waking up, I'd better go make sure she's alright, though. I'll talk later after I get Sora." The screen cut out and Leon cursed.

**xxxxxxx**

"Traverse Town?" Yuffie whispered into the cold air, her breath billowing up in front of her as she exhaled.

She stepped forward curiously and gazed around at the familiar buildings. A light blanket of snow covered the town, drifting down lightly from the night sky. The city's bright street lights clearly illuminated the area and she watched her feet sink into the snow as she walked.

"I haven't been here in forever." She paused slightly in the middle of the second district, gazing around at the high stone walls leading to the walkway that wrapped around the square.

It was so quiet and peaceful, she raised her arms and twirled around, letting the snow fall coldly on her bare shoulders and face. She knew it was all too good to be true when a sharp scream echoed around the stone walls. She heard the rushed sound of running footsteps and turned just in time to see a shadow dart out of her sight, her eyes widening in fear as a second, much larger shadow followed. The streetlights began to fade and flicker, casting an eerie glow on the buildings around her. Moving quickly, she scaled the high stone wall and dashed into the Inn, slamming the door behind her. It was dark inside, as she got the feeling she didn't want to see when the metallic scent of blood drifted up into her nose. She felt the urge to vomit, but stumbled out of the hallway and into a familiar room. Bursting out the back door, she fell on her knees on the balcony. There it was again, running. She threw herself forward to gaze over the ledge just in time to see a girl run by below her.

And then the demon. It tore after her, blood dripping on the ground behind it, seeping from its very being. It lunged forward at the girl and Yuffie gasped in horror when realization dawned on her.

"Tifa!! Over here, get up here!!" She leaned over the edge urgently, waving a panicked arm at her friend.

She listened, not seeming to care how or why Yuffie was there, but she leapt to the side at the monster crashed into the building behind her. Darting up onto the low roof and onto the balcony, Yuffie grabbed her arm and threw her inside the room, charging after her and slamming the door. She locked it and fell back, huffing nervously as she stared around the room for Tifa. The dark haired fighter leaned on the bed, huffing from exhaustion. She clutched a hand to her chest and blood dripped from her arm.

"Yuffie, what the hell is going on?" She gasped, cringing in pain as she tried to straighten up and walk over to the young ninja.

"You're in my nightmare and that monster is after us. It's always after us, and it's always going to be after us. All you can do is run, it's too powerful to fight." She said quietly, walking over to her injured friend.

Both girls jumped and screamed when the door was ripped off its hinges, revealing the creature itself. It lurched forward, giving them enough time to yank the other door open before darting forward and grabbing Yuffie around the neck. She let out a choked shriek and Tifa hesitated in the doorway, unwilling to leave the ninja to die.

"Yuffie!!" She sobbed, watching in horror as it held up Yuffie's right arm and bit down on the soft flesh.

Blood flowed onto the carpet and down her thin body, the sound of bone cracking under the creature's jaws piercing throughout her being. Yuffie's pained shriek filled the air and Tifa screamed with her, slamming backwards against the door. She wanted to run, go anywhere but here, but she couldn't just leave Yuffie. She couldn't help, completely paralyzed by fear, she was forced to crouch in the doorway and watch the ninja be devoured. Her eyes went wide with disbelief as the arm was dismantled and the remains thrown aside carelessly. Yuffie's screams continued to fill the air as she begged Tifa to go.

There was no end to the horrors this creature could commit, biting and slashing and ripping at the girl's defenseless body, sending blood everywhere and filling the room with the heavy scent of death. Yuffie's constricted screams faded to pained gurgles as blood began to trickled from her mouth. Tifa leapt to the side and screamed even louder when the monster flung the mangled and lifeless body at her. Stumbling out the door with tears running down her face, Tifa burst from the Inn and rushed out into the snow covered town.

**xxxxxxx**

Yuffie awoke with a start, finding herself unable to move. She began to panic and struggled against the strong arms, letting out gasps and yelps. Her body was soaked in sweat and she knew she must have been crying, too. Finally registering her surroundings, she calmed down and peered up into Riku's calm face.

"I saw Tifa this time, she was there. It was after her, but she got away…" She breathed. Riku stared at her in shock as she tried to snuggled into his chest in comfort.

"What's wrong..?" She asked, feeling sorry for herself when she realized the irony of that question.

"You saw Tifa?" She began to get uneasy when he kept staring at her like the world had ended. She nodded slowly but he decided to drop the subject.

"I'm so sorry, Yuffie. I really meant for this vacation to be longer, but something happened back home and Leon needs us." He climbed to his feet and pulled her up beside him.

She looked sad and confused, but Riku made his way back to the cockpit. He felt really guilty for cutting off her vacation like that, but maybe the answer to her nightmares was back in Hollow Bastian. He flicked some switches and the engine whirred to life, the hum reverberating through the cabin as the ship warmed up. Yuffie appeared beside him, a look of confusion on her face.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" She asked worriedly. She really didn't want to go home yet, knowing Leon, he might have just made something up to get them to go back!

"We need to pick up Sora, Leon and the others could be in trouble." He said simply, looking up into her grey eyes sadly.

Her stomach flipped as the ship took off into the sky and she lost her balance. Riku leapt up and grabbed her before she fell, cradling her against his chest. She breathed in his scent and dug her fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

"I'm really sorry, but we have to go. I'll make it up to you, I promise." he whispered in her ear. She nodded and flopped back into a chair as he released her.

**xxxxxxx**

The sun had reached its peak in the clear blue sky when the sound of a humming engine reached the island. Sora looked up curiously, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sunlight. He heard Kairi calling his name from the beach, pointing up at the descending gummi ship as she ran toward it. Moving sluggishly, he dragged himself from the waist-deep water and ran after her. No sooner had the ship landed than the door slid open and Riku jumped down onto the sand.

"Hey, Riku! What are you doing here, Cid wasn't going to pick us up until next week." Sora said, greeting his best friend.

"Trouble at Hollow Bastian, Leon needs you." He stated tiredly, motioning back into the ship. "You might want to give him a call before we go." Sora nodded and walked past him, barely shifting out of the way before Yuffie tripped in the doorway and tumbled out onto the beach.

"Geez…" Riku mumbled, leaning down and wrapping his arms around the clumsy ninja, he yanked her back up to her feet and she leaned on him as she regained her balance.

"Yuffie? You came along?" Kairi asked, stepping forward as she released her grip on Riku's arm and gazed around at her new surroundings.

"Of course I came along, someone had to protect Riku." She joked, messing up his hair. He scowled darkly at her but ignored it. He moved to climb back into the ship, but stopped when he noticed Sora standing in the doorway.

"Sora? Are you alright?" He asked cautiously. The brunette stood poised above him, staring directly at Yuffie. The two girls turned to look up at him and Yuffie began to feel a little self-conscious.

"What is that?" he asked blankly. Kairi gave him a confused look.

"That's Yuffie!" She almost laughed, but he was starting to creep her out. "What are you talking about?" Sora shook his head and stumbled back a step.

"Nothing, I could have sworn.." Yuffie blushed lightly as the keyblade master turned and walked back into the gummi ship, leaving the three confused friends behind.

**End of Chapter Eight**

Please review and tell me what you think, even if you hate it! I can't improve my writing without feedback...


	9. Hope

**Disclaimer: **I don't own KH…

**A/n: **This chapter moves really fast. We're getting close to the end now. Thanks so much everyone who reviewed! I can't believe how much support I've gotten for this story!

Sorry for any mistakes, I wrote most of this pretty fast so I could update tonight.

**Chapter Nine**

Yuffie's stomach flipped as the island dropped away below them. She peered out the window for a moment before jumping up out of her seat and wobbling over to the front of the ship. Glancing back, she could just see Kairi slouched down in a seat in the back, giggling quietly as Sora tried to explain something to her.

"Feeling sick?"

Her gaze shot back down to Riku when she remembered what she was doing. Nodding distantly, she sat down in the seat next to him and watched him steer the gummi ship. He quickly set the autopilot when Destiny Islands had vanished and leaned back in his seat.

"Is that why you didn't want to stay on Destiny Islands?" She whispered, pointing her thumb over her shoulder at the giggling teens in the back. Riku's face fell for a moment. He didn't reply, but reached over and took her hand. He pulled her over onto his lap and sighed.

"It's not like that. They were my best friends and they shut me out for each other. Would you want to live with that?" He said softly in her ear. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

In the back the two teens fell silent. Kairi peeked up over the seats in front of her just in time to see Yuffie be pulled over onto Riku's lap. Leaning back down and smiling widely at the brunette boy beside her, she motioned wildly over the top of the seat.

"They're totally dating!" She mouthed to him as he sat up to see his best friend holding the thin girl to his chest.

"Hmm…" He watched her suspiciously for a moment and Kairi punched his shoulder.

"What is with you? Aren't you happy?" She asked quietly. He shrugged.

"Sure I'm happy, it's just.. Something's weird about Yuffie. I don't like it, it feels dark." He rubbed his shoulder and gave his girlfriend his trademark pout. She threw her arms in the air.

"You've lost it, Sora, I think you're crazy." She muttered.

Riku noticed his two friends watching them and blushed lightly, he'd forgotten they didn't know. He hugged the girl tighter against him and turned his chair so he could see out the windshield better.

"If you guys get hungry there's food in the kitchen." He called back to Kairi and Sora. He heard a scramble and smiled to himself as Kairi yelled at Sora for stepping on her.

"I'm tired." Yuffie sighed. Riku nodded.

"Me too." He stood up with her in his arms and walked slowly down the aisle to the bedroom. Kairi grinned up at him as he walked by.

He pushed the door open and set Yuffie down on a bed. Pulling the covers back so she could scramble under, she smiled up at him happily.

"I'll be in later, I'm gonna explain everything to Sora, maybe he knows how to help you." He stroked her dark hair sadly, knowing what was in store for her. "I can't believe you even want to sleep, I'd be too scared." He forced a laugh.

"I don't care anymore…" She said softly, lowering her gaze. Riku patted her on top of the head and leaned down.

Her eyes slid closed as he kissed her lightly, hesitating for a moment as she leaned in blissfully.

"I'll be right back." He said gently, backing away and closing the door behind him. He leaned against the closed door and sighed.

"You never said anything about having a girlfriend."

He jumped when he realized Kairi was standing right in front of him, leaning in the kitchen doorway. Sora appeared behind her, looking at him with wide blue eyes.

"It's not a big deal." he shrugged, stepping forward.

"Whatever." Kairi muttered as he walked past her to take a seat in the cabin.

"Sora, come here." He motioned the boy over and he sat down next to him.

"You guys need to know exactly what's going on."

**xxxxxxx**

"No, please, not here…"

Yuffie covered her eyes as she stared out across the marketplace, the burning sun beating down on her from above. It was empty, as far as she could see, not a single person. She shook slightly as she stepped forward, glancing around her in fear.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked loudly, her voice shaking slightly.

The wind howled viciously as it ripped past her, whipping her hair around in her face and nearly knocking her off balance.

'_It's time to end this game…' _

A grating voice drawled out, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. A shiver crept down her spine and she turned around, staring up at the creature with wide eyes.

It was a good eight feet tall, grey, scaly skin mottled its body. As far as she could tell, it didn't have any visible eyes, and its snake like nostrils flared in excitement when it smelled her fear. Blood seeped from its mouth as drool, and it grinned at her with rows and rows of sharp dagger-like teeth. She could smell the death coming from it and stepped back in horror. Glancing down it's lanky arms, she saw the long claws that had tormented her so many times, bloodstained and dark. It had a long tail, whipping back and forth behind it eagerly, and she noticed the end looked shredded.

"I don't care. Do what you want, I'll just wake up and this nightmare will be over." She said bravely, clenching her fists at her sides. A deep laugh echoed around the marketplace.

'_Not this time, little one. This time, you die…'_

Her eyes went even wider and she felt a tear roll down her cheek. She spun around and dashed in the opposite direction, leaping over the wall and running across the square. Jumping dangerously down the stairs, she stumbled and fell, rolling several feet when she hit the stone walkway at the bottom. The creature was right behind her and she tore through the neighborhood, dashing around buildings and jumping over ledges.

"I've got to wake up!" She whimpered, panting heavily as the strain of running began to catch up to her.

"Riku!" She screamed as it grabbed her by the hair, flinging her off her feet.

She landed heavily on the pavement and she knew her arm was broken. It bit her broken arm viciously, ripping into the tender flesh and laughing and she screamed in agony.

"Riku!" She shrieked again as the monster threw her up into the air by her mangled arm.

It caught her by a leg when she fell back down and slammed her onto the cobblestone street below. Crying out in pain, she could feel blood matting her hair.

"Riku, help me…" She sobbed.

The creature brought a foot down on her shin and it cracked painfully, causing another shriek of pain from Yuffie.

'_You're not having fun, my dear?'_

It cackled in her ear and she slapped at it uselessly.

'_Riku can't help you now…' _

It dragged a claw along the skin of her back, leaving deep gashes in her smooth skin. She whimpered in pain, but her body went limp. The creature flipped her over and her head cracked against the stone again, making stars explode in front of her eyes. It drew a thin line along her cheek and watched the blood seep through the skin. A long tongue flicked out and lapped it up, squealing in excitement.

"Riku…" She gasped, her sight darkening as she felt her body weaken.

**xxxxxxx**

Sora jumped to his feet, looking around the cabin in near panic. Kairi stared up at him in shock and Riku followed his lead.

"You feel that?" He asked urgently, looking over at Riku. He gave the brunette a confused look.

"Riku!" Yuffie's terrified voice exploded through the silence.

Sora dashed to the bedroom door and threw it open, flicking on the light and staring into the room. Riku shoved in past him and leapt on the bed, grabbing Yuffie's shoulders desperately and pulling her out onto the floor. She was struggling violently against him and shrieking in fear. He shook her gently as Kairi and Sora dashed into the room.

"Yuffie! Wake up! Come on, Yuffie!" He yelled, staring up at his friends in fear when she didn't respond. Kairi held her hands over her mouth in horror.

"What's happening?!" She shrieked, staring at the struggling ninja. She glanced over in time to see the keyblade appear in Sora's hand and he stepped forward with a disgusted look on his face.

"What are you doing?!" Kairi gasped, watching him draw it back and step forward over Yuffie. Riku took the hint and backed away, trusting the brunette.

"I see you." He growled, bringing the keyblade down across Yuffie's chest.

She screamed louder and he swung it back around, slashing it back down and, holding it expertly in one hand, he plunged it deep into her chest. Kairi grabbed Riku's arm as the girl's back arched up into the weapon, her mouth open in a silent scream.

He pulled the keyblade back out and dropped it, kneeling down beside the girl. Riku fell to his knees beside them and grabbed her, cradling her in his arms protectively.

"What the hell just happened?" Kairi cried, running around to stare down at Yuffie's peaceful face.

"She was being possessed by a heartless, a really horrible one." Sora spat angrily.

"How did it get in her?" Kairi asked, touching the girl's forehead gingerly. Sora shrugged.

"My guess is someone was controlling it, I haven't seen a heartless in months." He said as Riku looked up at him sharply.

"Is it gone?" His voice was hushed and shaken, and Kairi put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

Sora nodded. "I think so, I don't see it anymore."

Riku got to his feet, lifting the unconscious girl with him. He moved across the room and set her back down in her bed.

"Thank you, Sora." He said quietly as the brunette tried to usher Kairi from the room. He looked at his best friend in shock for a moment before his eyes softened.

"It's my job." He flashed a grinned across the room and Riku smiled, watching him close the door as he left them alone.

Riku looked back down at Yuffie's peaceful face. Pulling the blankets up off the floor, he slid in beside her and wrapped an arm around her thin waist. He pressed a kiss against her neck and she sighed.

**xxxxxxx**

Dim light filtered into the bedroom from the small window, filling the room with a dull glow. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around in confusion. Feeling a weight on her stomach, she looked down and realized Riku lying right beside her. He felt her move and opened his eyes, glancing up sleepily from the pillow as she sat up.

"Are we there yet?" He groaned, brushing the pale hair out of his face. Yuffie stared at him as he smiled at her.

"It's a joke." He mumbled, pulling her back down again. She just gave him a blank look.

"What happened?" She asked shakily, holding a hand to her face. Riku looked up when realization hit him.

"I thought I was going to die, I remember passing out in my dream and that thing said I was going to die." She said, her hand shaking as Riku pulled it down to his chest.

"Sora saved you. He killed it with the keyblade." He whispered. Yuffie stared at him in surprise. She was about to ask more when the door burst open.

"You're not up yet?" Kairi cried, crossing her arms. "We're almost there and Leon already called asking where we were." She waved and walked back out of the room, leaving the door open.

Riku leapt out of the bed, running a hand through his hair. Yuffie sat up and looked around, holding the blankets up around her self-consciously.

"We'd better hurry and find Tifa, she could be in trouble, too." He said, rushing out of the room. Yuffie stared after him and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

Great, that meant getting a talking to from Leon about leaving in the first place. She really wasn't in the mood to see him right now. Sighing heavily, she got up and went into the bathroom to sort herself out.

The ship was just landing when Yuffie wandered out of the bathroom. A jerk to the side caught her off guard and she tumbled into a seat.

"Hey, feeling better?" Kairi smiled down at her and she stared at the red headed girl, nodding slightly. Kairi leaned down and pulled a bag out from under the seat and tossed it at Sora.

The sound of the landing gear hitting the floor of the hangar echoed around them and Riku jumped out of the pilot's seat. He walked over to the seat Yuffie had landed in and offered her a hand.

"You ready?" He asked, helping her to her feet. Without warning, she pulled him into a hug and wrapped her arms around his neck. Kairi watched them happily until Sora shoved her out the door.

**End of Chapter Nine**


	10. Deeper in Hell

**Disclaimer: **I do not own KH, it belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/n: **I have been so busy, I haven't had any time to write at all in at least two weeks. I'm sorry this took so long! And so you know, I really hate Rosso's stupid accent now.

**Chapter Ten**

The door burst open and Cloud leapt to his feet as Leon rushed into the bedroom. He barely had time to exchange a glance with the blonde before he turned to usher Sora inside. The young brunette hurried inside, taking one look at Tifa's unconscious form and cringing.

"That's him all right…" He muttered with a sickened look as he gazed down at the sleeping girl. Cloud glanced from Sora to Leon in confusion, which quickly melted away to worry as the keyblade master drew his famous weapon. Kairi, Riku, and Yuffie dashed into the room in a mixture of excitement and near panic, staring with wide eyes as Sora raised the keyblade over Tifa's gently rising and falling chest.

He gazed down at her as he focused, noting the arms only visible to him wound around her shoulders and waist, the creature's shadowed face resting beside Tifa's as its grip on her tightened. She began to whimper in her sleep, incoherent words escaping her as her peaceful expression quickly changed to fear.

He brought the keyblade down, arching beautifully as he cut the ties the creature held on her. This proved to be trickier than when he had freed Yuffie, the creature hissed in pain as he sliced through its limbs, only to move again and make it difficult to watch what he was doing. He gritted his teeth, finally managing to weaken the creature enough to plunge the keyblade into the girl's chest and let the keyblade cleanse her body of the parasitic heartless. She writhed in pain and let out a shriek, only to relax moments later as Sora put the keyblade away and Cloud rushed to her side. He stroked her hair gently and looked up at the boy, giving him a rare look of gratitude. The room fell silent and Sora looked around at them all.

"Now what?" He asked, glancing at his best friend and then to Leon.

"We need a plan, but we still don't know anything about the woman that attacked Tifa." He said somberly.

"What did she look like?" Everyone looked over to Yuffie as she spoke up. Leon stared at her for a moment before he could recall what he'd seen.

"She was pale, with red hair, red cape, pretty much red everything." Cloud replied, holding Tifa in his arms protectively. "You remember her, don't you?" Yuffie nodded in disgust.

"Yeah, I know who you're talking about. That mission you sent Tifa and me on a few months ago, to that planet we'd never seen before? She was there…" She stared at Leon, almost with a look of hatred, but it quickly faded and she looked around the room at her friends.

"She's a sick bitch, when I first saw her she had slaughtered around fifteen people and was sitting in the middle of the room, covered in blood and laughing." Yuffie shuddered at the memory and wrapped her arms around herself.

Everyone looked up when a horrified shriek echoed into the room from the slightly open window. Kairi reached out and grabbed Sora's arm, and Yuffie and Riku rushed to the front door. Grabbing the doorknob and yanking it open, Yuffie stared out into the street in front of the small house.

Blood soaked the cobblestone road, running along the cracks in thin streams, as if reaching out toward Yuffie as she stood frozen in the doorway. Riku appeared beside her and stared at the grinning woman in shock. She was holding a limp body in one hand, and smiled wickedly at Yuffie.

Bringing her arm back, she threw the body at the doorway and Riku yanked the young ninja back just in time as the harassed corpse hit the wood.

Yuffie hit the floor hard, catching herself and staring down at the carpet in horror. Riku fell to his knees beside her and wound his arms under her stomach, lifting her back up to her feet and shoving her towards the bedroom as something began to pound on the locked door.

"What's happening?" Kairi whimpered nervously as Yuffie stumbled into the room with wide eyes.

Her head began to spin and she gripped her dark hair as she tried to calm her breathing. She felt a hand resting on her back and looked up at Kairi.

"She killed those people…" She mumbled softly, suddenly aware of the tears running down her face. She hurriedly wiped them away and pushed herself back up to her feet and leaned against the wall.

Riku was pacing the room over by the bed, and she managed to wobble over to him. He wrapped his arms around her and looked up at Leon sharply.

"We've got to get the hell out of here, or she's just going to kill everyone in this city to get to us." He said in a hushed voice.

'_Yuffie….' _

Her back stiffened in fear as the voice whispered past her. The door behind them splintered and broke, and Leon ran to the bed where Tifa was still sleeping.

"Grab her, we have to move, now!" He said hurriedly, helping ease the woman's unconscious form over Cloud's shoulder.

Leon ran forward and kicked the window open, leaping out onto the street outside and glancing around. To his left he could see the blood spattered sidewalk, and he quickly turned around to help the others out of the window.

Yuffie's feet had just touched the sidewalk when screams erupted down the street. Her eyes shot over to the two terrified women who had just stumbled across the horrific scene splashed across the street.

"Come on, the only way to help is to run." She looked up into Riku's worried eyes and nodded, glancing over his shoulder as the bedroom door in the room behind them exploded. He turned and ran, clutching her hand tightly in his and not bothering to see exactly who might step through the door after them.

There was a loud cracking noise behind them and he threw Yuffie to the side as pieces of wood flew through the air and clattered along the road. He pulled her around the corner of another house and shielded her as the entire wall burst outward in a hail of brick and chunks of wood. They heard a shriek and Kairi fell against the wall beside them, staring around her in panic.

"Where'd everyone go?" Riku asked quickly, pulling her to her feet and herding the two girls down the alley.

"I don't know." Kairi said shakily, not daring to look back.

They raced down the alley and came out not far from the stairs leading to the Bailey. Kairi stumbled as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Riku grabbed her arm protectively and pulled her up the stairs. They made it to the Bailey in record time and Riku glanced back to see if they were still being followed.

An unnaturally tall figure lurched after them, a wide grin splitting its face. No eyes were visible, and it's dark mottled skin gleamed in the sunlight. Riku's eyes widened and he cursed as the creature opened its mouth and hissed at him, rows of bloodstained teeth flashing threateningly. His keyblade appeared in his hand just as the creature lunged forward, long arms trailed behind as it bit at him viciously. The two girls cried out in fear and surprise as they watched him fly past, bracing the keyblade against the monster's massive jaws as it pushed him towards the edge of the Bailey. He clenched his teeth as his back hit the ground, sliding for several feet before the stone fell away beneath him.

He heard someone call his name and he looked up in time to see several shuriken hit the side of the creature's face, making it falter angrily. It began shaking its head and Riku's shoulder hit a ledge painfully. He used the ledge to flip over, landing shakily on his feet down below before leaping back up again as the monster turned its attention to Yuffie.

He landed smoothly on the edge of the Bailey, quickly looking up to see Yuffie dodging blows from the creature as she launched shuriken at it. Kairi was pressed up against the wall across from him, and he ran forward to help as Yuffie was thrown against the wall. He cried out at it and swung his keyblade, catching across the lower back and making is shriek in pain. It turned and growled at him, and he grabbed Yuffie's arm, pulling her towards the window of the Bailey. She stared at him in confusion as they ran forward and he pulled her up into his arms.

Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut as she felt him lunge forward and out the window, falling out into open air. She gritted her teeth and clutched him tightly as her stomach flipped dangerously. To her surprise, they landed softly on the ground, and he dumped her out of his arms as creature appeared in the sky above them. Kairi leaned out the window, mouth open in worry as she watched her two friends begin running across the plains.

Yuffie let out a scream as a claw wrapped around her thigh and she was lifted up into the air. Quickly grabbing a shuriken, she launched it at the creature's face, only succeeding in making it angry. It let out a screech and Riku spun around and raised his keyblade, running back towards it. He leapt into the air, bringing the keyblade down on the monster's arm.

Another loud screech filled the air around them as blood dripped down onto the pale dirt. Yuffie hit the ground as the creature lost its grip, and scrambled to her feet to join Riku again. He stepped in front of her as the creature advanced on them again, hatred evident on its face.

Riku's eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the shadowed figure leaping through the air, weapon raised in attack as the creature reached out for Yuffie once again. The silver weapon sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight as it arched overhead, coming down on the creature's back.

A loud scream erupted from the monster and it threw itself back, writhing in agony as the keyblade stuck out of its back. Sora landed gracefully next to his best friend, watching the monster seriously as Leon appeared over it with his Gunblade in hand. He brought the weapon down quickly, silencing the monsters shrieks.

Yuffie stared at the headless body before her in shock. It was over?

"Nice work." Riku said, patting the young brunette on the back as he flashed his friend that trademark grin. Leon walked around the massive creature, Cloud appearing by his side as he looked down at the monster distastefully.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly once he reached Yuffie. He gazed down at her softly, his face blank as he tried to act like he didn't really care. She gave him a small smile and shrugged.

"'Course I'm fine, I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" She put her hands on her hips proudly and he frowned down at her affectionately.

The ground began to shake violently and Yuffie tripped, falling against Leon as he looked around in confusion. He gripped the girl's arms protectively as the sky above them began to darken.

"What's happening?" Sora asked worriedly as the ground around them began to take on a reddish tinge.

Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to know what was about to happen. A thick fog began to roll in, obscuring the distance walls of the city from view. Loud footsteps echoed around them and Yuffie could sense the sudden tension between her friends. The footsteps drew closer and without warning, Yuffie was throw harshly to the side. Glancing up in shock, she saw Leon standing in front of her, blocking most of her view of the tall woman that was approaching. He held his Gunblade at his side tensely as the woman drew her own weapon and flashed him a malicious smile.

"Leon, don't! She doesn't care, she'll kill you anyway!" Yuffie cried out when she realized what he was doing. She was obviously after Yuffie, and he wasn't about to let her get at the young ninja. She leapt to her feet and summoned her Conformer, running at the woman before she could attack her friends.

"Rosso, you've taken this too far!" She growled, dodging to the side as Leon made a wild grab to stop her.

She threw herself into the air, aiming a kick for the woman's chest as she drew back her double ended sword and let out a giddy laugh. In a flash of red, she appeared several feet to the ninja's left, and she turned in midair to block a blow to her head before landing on all fours on the ground. The sword came down beside her as she rolled away, climbing to her feet again and lashing out at Rosso's face. She could hear the men behind them shouting out encouragement for the ninja, and she glanced over worriedly when she saw Cloud's sword slash out at the woman.

'_Oh how noble, you don't vant anyone else to get hurt.' _Rosso's voice grated in her ear, dripping with sweetness.

Her grey eyes widened with horror as Rosso flashed her a smirk and dashed towards Cloud, weapon raised behind her. He barely had time to react, blocking her attack with his giant sword as she darted in close. She landed a kick to his shoulder and he stepped back, scowling up at her darkly as she leapt around behind him.

She almost landed another blow with her sword, but Riku appeared beside her and stopped the attack. She stumbled slightly, giving him enough time to catch her in the side of the face with a hooked punch. Yuffie might have laughed if she hadn't been so terrified for her friends. Her body shook as she rushed to rejoin the fight, flinging her Conformer at the crimson woman's head as she leaped away from Riku and flashed him a sick smile.

She narrowly dodged the giant shuriken and spun around, making Yuffie skid to a stop and roll sideways to avoid her sword. She jumped on the ninja before she could recover, pinning her to the ground with a high heeled boot in her throat. She brought her sword down, narrowly missing Yuffie head as Leon yanked the woman off of her by her hair, throwing her to the side. She let out a shriek of anger, but before she could go after Leon, Sora caught her across the back with his keyblade. Another shriek and she vanished into the fog.

"You okay?" Riku asked, hauling Yuffie to her feet again as she held a hand over the gash on her shoulder.

"I guess it's better than a sword through my forehead." She grumbled, glancing around them warily as psychotic laugher echoed in the fog.

"What's she doing?" Sora asked, moving closer to the others with his weapon raised defensively.

As if answering his question, the body of the headless monster began to move. Yuffie looked over at it in horror as it began to twitch violently, jumping as if something was trying to escape from it. A long clawed hand burst out of the creature's back, and Yuffie let out a startled shriek and grabbed Riku's arm. The sky began to darken even more, making it difficult to see. There was a sickening ripping sound and the crunching of bones breaking, and Yuffie looked up just as another monster burst out of the headless corpse. The ground seemed to fall away and she called out to Riku as she fell.

She quickly looked around, trying to gather herself and figure out where her friends were. No one was in sight, and she strained to try and see what might be below her now. The air around her quickly grew colder, and she hugged herself as she waited for her latest nightmare to begin.

**End of Chapter Ten**

_A/n: Sorry it was a short chapter, I wanted to update as soon as possible. Please review and I'll try to update much faster!_


	11. Wandering

**Disclaimer: **KH belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

**A/n: **This really could have been the last chapter, but I decided to end it a bit better next chapter for all you faithful readers. I do like how this one turned out, though. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, I really appreciate it!

**Chapter Eleven**

Yuffie gasped painfully as the air was knocked from her lungs. She hit the ground hard and cried out as the shock went up her arms, leaving her stunned for a moment as she tried to breathe. A loud thud sounded right beside her and she shifted slightly to come face to face with her Conformer, sticking out of the ground mere inches from where she was sprawled. She struggled to her feet and stared around her nervously, pulling the heavy shuriken from the dusty ground.

It was dark, with a reddish glow emanating from the horizon. The dirt beneath her feet was cracked and dry, and she kicked at it slightly in suspicion. A terrifying howl rose up from somewhere in the distance and Yuffie cursed to herself. Gripping her weapon tightly, she dashed forward in the direction she supposed the sound had come from.

It had hardly been two hundred feet before she skidded to a stop again, staring down in amazement as the ground dropped away several feet ahead. The distant sound of running water echoed through along the cliff, and Yuffie noticed a river down below, glimmering slightly in the darkness.

'_You're more trouble than I expected…'_

Yuffie spun around when the voice whispered past her ear again, making a shiver go down her spine. She stared up into blood stained teeth, too shocked to move as a long hand darted out and wrapped itself around her throat. She let out a loud gasp and struggled, kicking against the creature's arm as it lifted her up into the air. Its grip began to tighten, and in panic Yuffie slammed her giant shuriken through the muscles on its forearm.

Her feet hit the ground, and she fell backwards, landing gracelessly on her rear. She clamped her hands over her ears in pain as the creature let out a pained shriek and fell back several steps, clutching its wounded arm in fury. It ripped the shuriken out again so violently that it nearly ripped the muscles off with it, flinging the weapon back at her as she ducked quickly out of the way. Blood splattered across her leg as she scrambled off the ground and dashed along the cliff's edge.

**xXx**

Riku groaned loudly, rolling over onto his stomach as he pushed himself up on all fours. His head was pounding, and when he felt behind his ear he noticed blood covering his fingertips. Glancing around him in confusion, he noticed the rocky hillside he found himself on. He pushed himself up to his feet and looked around a bit more, checking to see if any of his friends might be in view. The hillside continued on several hundred feet down before disappearing out of sight in the darkness, and he quickly gathered himself to jog down the hill.

He could see flat ground ahead as he made his way precariously down the rocky slope, and just as he looked down to avoid a rather large rock in his way he felt something catch him by the shirt and yank him back. Looking over in surprise, he held a hand to his pain filled head and glowered into Sora's innocent face.

"What the hell, forget my name?" He asked, shaking the younger boy's hand off his shirt and kneeling down behind the boulder beside him. The keyblade master was gasping tiredly, and sweat was running down his face as he grinned up at his best friend.

"I did call your name." He said defensively, the teasing grin widening at the obvious joy he felt at having found someone in this wasteland.

Riku rolled his eyes, "What have you been doing, anyway? You're sweaty and you're starting to smell bad." Sora laughed at the forced attempt at casual humor, leaning around him to see the blood soaking his long silver hair.

"I was running around looking for people, duh. What happened to your head?" He poked at it childishly and Riku slapped his hand away.

"Stop, it hurts." He growled as Sora starting laughing at him again. "I guess I must have hit my head when I got here." He muttered, looking around them again at the dark scenery.

"How long have you been here?" He asked curiously as Sora leaned back to relax.

"Maybe forty five minutes, I'm not really sure. I heard some noises down there at the bottom of the hill, I was going to check it out." Sora replied, getting to his feet again and brushing himself off.

It took them another half an hour to hike all the way down the hill, and Riku stepped forward to stare down into the bottom of a canyon that cut right across the hillside. He spun around in surprise when he heard Sora let out a loud laugh, only to find the boy pointing out across the canyon to the barely visible other side.

"It's Cloud!" He cried happily, waving enthusiastically to the mercenary.

They watched in awe as Cloud cleared the expanse in one great leap, soaring out over open air and landing solidly beside them with his huge sword angled across his back. He stood up and stared down at the two young men, nodding slightly before checking their surroundings.

"You haven't found anyone else yet?" He asked almost worriedly.

"Just Sora." Riku replied, pointing towards the brunette as if he wasn't there. Cloud didn't seem very amused, and slammed his sword into the ground beside him seriously.

"We need to hurry, chances are we were split up so we would be easier to kill." All humor seemed to melt out of the situation and the two boy nodded, following the blonde's lead as he walked along the top of the canyon.

**xXx**

Yuffie let out another angry shriek as she struggled out of the creature's grip, falling on the ground when it refused to let go of her ankle. Her giant shuriken tumbled out of her hands, so she clawed and punched at the monster viciously, desperate to get away. It lifted her up into the air, flinging her overhead and howling once again as she managed to lodge a small shuriken into the back of its hand.

Her eyes went wide as she watched her surroundings spin around her, finally rushing up to meet her as she hit the dirt and rolled several feet. She was wounded and limped along, trying to reach her Conformer before the monster caught up to her again.

Her fingertips barely brushed the smooth metal before she was hoisted up again and spun around to stare into the creature's face as it screamed at her. She wrinkled her nose in hatred and cursed at it, landing a kick to its face as it brought up its other clawed hand. Yuffie saw the claws out of the corner of her eye, and she held her arms up defensively to shield her face from the attack.

The next thing she knew, the creature had dropped her again and was reeling back in pain. Blood splattered across the dirt and she stared up at Leon in shock. "Come on." He growled, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the monster. She managed to grab her Conformer again before he forced her into a mad dash towards the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing? We need to fight!" She cried, staring over her shoulder at the dark grey mass barreling after them. Leon glanced over at her sharply.

"We don't know how to kill it yet, fighting won't do anything but get us all killed." He said. Yuffie stared over at him in anger for a few moments before the full impact of his words sank in.

'_You don't want me to get hurt.' _She thought to herself, watching him suspiciously as he pulled her along. _'You know it's after me and if I fight it I'll die…'_ She wasn't sure what to think, it seemed like he had spent the last few years trying to find ways to get her killed.

A loud roar from behind them made her snap her attention back to the demon chasing them down. It swiped it's remaining claw straight at Leon, and he fell back on one knee, narrowly dodging the long fingers before darting back up to stab it in the leg with his gunblade. It cried out again and grabbed the brunette by the arm, yanking him roughly off his feet.

Yuffie leapt up past him, clenching her teeth as Leon swung his gunblade at the monster's leg again. It noticed the young ninja too late, having been preoccupied with Leon's attacks. It swung it's arm at her as she raised her shuriken, seeming to forget that its hand had recently gone missing. Kicking of the creature's chest and flipping gracefully in the air, Yuffie landed on her feet and looked up at her favorite weapon sticking out of the monster's neck as it choked on its own blood.

She yelped in surprise as the monster gave an angry yell and threw Leon at her, knocking her off her feet. She winced in pain as he landed on top of her, staring down at her with wide eyes as the creature behind them fell heavily on its side. It writhed wildly, squealing as it threw up clouds of dust around them. Yuffie braced her hands against Leon's chest nervously, heaving with all her strength. He scrambled off of her immediately, staring at the thrashing form of the monster as Yuffie sat up and cradled her sore ribs. She watched in disgust when Leon finally killed the creature, its hunched form going limp as the sound of the gunblade cutting through bone reached her ears.

"Are you alright?" Leon asked, offering her his hand as she stared up at him.

"Ugh…" She groaned, letting him haul her to her feet again. "That was way too easy…" She huffed, leaning over and resting her hands on her knees.

"They're not done with us yet." Leon replied casually, scanning their surroundings as the silence started to creep back in around them.

**xXx**

Sora sighed heavily, wiping the blood from his keyblade and glancing over to his two friends. Riku fell back onto a rock, resting his chin in his hand in exhaustion.

"Well that could have gone better." He groaned, looking at the gash in his forearm. Blood ran down onto his hand, staining the rock he sat on dark crimson.

"Yeah…" Sora agreed, laughing nervously. He looked down at his own blood soaked leg and holding his keyblade tightly.

"Don't bother." Riku called over to him, gesturing towards the raised keyblade. Sora gave him a confused look for a moment.

"Cure spells don't work, I already tried." He said, leaning back and rubbing his forearm.

Sora sighed in frustration. "Where did those things come from, anyway?" He muttered, looking over at the three hunched corpses sprawled on the ground several feet away.

"We need to move." Cloud said somberly, placing his giant sword across his back once again. The two younger men looked up at him for a moment before following his lead.

"Right, we need to find Yuffie." Riku replied, putting his weapon away and making his way around the rock he had been sitting on to join Cloud.

The rocks were getting smaller as they walked along, the soft crunching under their feet the only sound echoing in the darkness around them. The ground was slowly turning more to barren dirt, and Sora leaned over to look down into the canyon on their right. He wasn't close enough to see the bottom, but peered over at the sharp drop down into darkness hundreds of feet below. Kicking several nearby pebbles, he listened to them clatter along before disappearing before disappearing over the edge. He never heard it hit the bottom.

"What's that?" Riku asked quietly, squinting into the black fog covering the landscape. Several shapes were moving around up ahead, and after several more moments of waiting, a faint shriek reached their ears. All three men broke into a run, dashing towards the shadowed figures up ahead.

**xXx**

"Where are we even going?" Yuffie whined, her feet dragging in exhaustion as Leon walked close beside her.

He didn't respond, but Yuffie noticed when he forgot to flash her one of his dirty looks. Usually he would have started yelling at her to stop being so obnoxious by now, but he had hardly said a word since helping her with that bloodthirsty monster.

"You're unusually mad at me, aren't you?" She wondered out loud, staring at him bravely when he refused to look at her.

"What gives you that idea?" He said suddenly. She sorted and struggled to keep up with his quick pace.

"It's because of Riku, isn't it?" Yuffie asked curiously. She thought she saw the look on his face darken for a moment, but it quickly disappeared.

"What you do in your life is none of my business." It seemed like a growl, and for some reason she felt proud that her relationship with Riku was making him angry. She smiled to herself.

"You're jealous." She grinned widely at his bewildered expression.

"Yuffie-" He stopped himself before he said something he might regret.

'_You're not trying to leave, are you..?' _

Yuffie stopped in her tracks, eyes widening as she spun around looking for the source of the voice.

"Did you hear that?" She asked worriedly.

Yuffie didn't see anything, so she turned back to Leon. There was a familiar clawed hand wrapped around his gashed neck, blood pouring down onto his white shirt as he choked for air. The toes of his boots scraped the dirt uselessly and his bloody hands tore at the fingers around his throat. Yuffie let out a horrified shriek and leapt back, promptly tripping herself and falling roughly in the dirt.

"Yuffie! Are you alright?" She stared up into his worried eyes in confusion as he kneeled over her.

Her chest heaved as adrenaline pumped through her system, making her hands shake. She dug her fingers into the dirt and she felt tears well in her eyes as she tried to understand what was happening. He put a hand on her should when she didn't respond, looking down at her in worry. The terror in her eyes made him nervous, and he looked around them for a moment to make sure there wasn't another one of those monsters lurking nearby.

"Yuffie, it's alright. Calm down." He gripped her shoulders gently and she refused to look away from him. She was breathing heavily and after several tense moments she finally eased a trembling hand up from the ground to grip his arm.

"What did you see?" Leon asked urgently. He heaved a sigh when she didn't respond, and leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her to pull her to her feet.

"Squall…" She whimpered softly in fear, the sound of the name he hadn't used in so long making him stop and nearly fall back down into the dirt.

He stared into her stormy grey eyes, watching her jaw quiver almost comically. He might have laughed if she hadn't been so completely terrified. Their faces were mere inches apart, and he could feel her rushed breath on his cheek as he held her awkwardly in his arms. He knew everything about this was the wrong thing to do, and he wanted to stop, but he found himself leaning in closer to her ever so slightly. The terrified look in Yuffie's eyes shifted to shock when she realized what he was doing, but she didn't pull away from him. It was when his lips had brushed over hers and he felt her back tense that he stopped. Quickly releasing her, she nearly tumbled back onto the ground.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" He said quietly, avoiding her gaze as she caught her breath. She shook her head, trying to forget everything about what had just happened.

Yuffie clasped a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes momentarily as the images of his dying form flashed through her mind.

"I'm fine…" She breathed, eyes snapping open as she felt hands begin to wind around her thin waist.

"Leon-" She started angrily, looking up to see him standing several feet ahead, staring out at the dark expanse around them.

"What?" He turned to look at her questioningly.

**End of Chapter Eleven**

_And before you say it, yes, Yuffie is very whiny in this chapter. But you would be too, if you were going crazy._


	12. The End

**Disclaimer:** I don't own KHII, on to the story!

**A/n: **I'm so sorry this is horribly late, I really am. I'm motivated to finish up all my other stories right now so I can start writing my new one and not feel guilty. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!! This chapter is dedicated to everyone who was nice enough to not flame me for forgetting to update sooner.

Last chapter! I even added an epilogue at the end of the chapter to make it a little longer. Thanks for reading and I hope this chapter doesn't seem as awkward as it was to write. That epilogue at the end was rewritten four times…

**Chapter Twelve**

Yuffie's eyes began to widen in fear and she refused to move. Her body was trembling and she could tell from the look on Leon's face that something really horrible was about to happen. Hands trailed down her sides to her stomach, brushing gently against her exposed skin before dancing back up to her chest.

Her breath began to catch in her throat and she stared at Leon pleadingly, as if there was a spider in her hair she needed him to remove. He took a step towards her and the hands weaving up and down her body stiffened, sharp fingernails digging in to the skin of her stomach.

Soft breath began to rustle the hair behind her ear, and Yuffie stared at the brunette man several feet away in terror.

"You still don't understand, my sweet little Yuffie…"

Yuffie cried out as she was shoved forward, landing harshly on her knees in the dirt. She heard scuffling as Leon rushed towards her, but his footsteps stopped suddenly. Yuffie looked up to see a flash of red as Rosso darted out of nowhere and tackled him. She crouched over him, straddling his hips and trailing a claw-like finger over his cheek and jaw.

A horrific smirk crossed her face and Leon struggled to kick her off. She seemed impossibly strong, holding her place just fine as he tried to wrench a hand free. Her fingernail suddenly cut into his skin, and she sighed happily as bright red droplets of blood began to roll down his neck.

Yuffie growled in anger, leaping up and launching a slightly clumsy kick at the woman's head. Rosso turned and easily wrapped a hand around Yuffie's ankle, tossing her to the side and watching her land hard several feet away, sending up a cloud of dust.

She hardly had time to collect herself when Rosso's boot hit her in the ribs. Crying out in pain, Yuffie threw herself back and scrambled to her feet. Leon lunged forward, swinging the gunblade just as Rosso seemed to vanish. He paused, weapon raised as he shifted his gaze around them. High pitched laughter echoed around them and Yuffie scooted closer to Leon.

"Leon, we're gonna die." Yuffie mumbled through gritted teeth. He sighed.

"Can you at least try to be positive?" He glared over at her for a moment before checking around them again for any sign of the psychotic woman. He knew it was most likely the truth, but he didn't want to just give up hope.

"We're in her mind, she can do whatever she wants with us and there's nothing we can do about it." Her voice was sad, but held a somewhat determined tone to it.

"So, before we die, why are you always so mean to me?" Yuffie looked over to see his reaction. Leon kept his face blank, glancing over at her again in irritation.

"I'm not mean to you, you're just childish." He replied flatly. Yuffie snorted.

"You always sent me on the most dangerous missions, like you were trying to off me or something." She shot back, looking around for her Conformer.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I assumed you could handle it?" Leon let his stance fall for a moment as Yuffie mumbled something rude.

"Yuffie…" His voice trailed off slightly as she turned and walked several steps away to pull her giant shuriken from the dirt.

her heart skipped a beat when she heard him choke, and she spun around to see him standing there with one end of Rosso's sword protruding from his stomach. Blood seeped through his white shirt and dripped down onto the ground. He looked over at Yuffie in shock.

"Leon!" She shrieked, staring in horror as Rosso yanked the sword from him and let him fall to his knees.

She dropped her shuriken and threw herself down by his side, grabbing his arm to steady him as he began to sway. Hot tears started to roll down her cheeks and she brushed them away angrily, placing a hand against his stomach. He cried out in pain and she quickly pulled it away. She helped him lean back and kneeled over him in horror.

"Leon!" She brushed the hair from his face hurriedly.

"Yuffie, calm down." He groaned, "I'm not dead yet."

The sharp clang of metal overheard made her jump in surprise, and she stared with wide eyes as Rosso's sword flew threw the air, the woman reeling back in fury. Shifting her gaze to the right, she realized Riku was standing over her, keyblade in hand. Sora fell to his knees right beside her, breathless as he leaned over the wounded man.

"Leon! What happened?" His usually bright blue eyes were panicked, and he stared down at the puddle of blood in horror.

"That sneaky bitch stabbed him from behind, didn't even bother to face him." Yuffie spat bitterly, resting a hand on his forehead as he winced in pain.

"Are you alright, Yuffie?"

She looked up when Riku spoke to her, almost not registering that he was actually there. Her gaze finally softened and she gave him a small grim smile.

"Look out!" Sora called, lunging forward to block a sudden attack as Rosso appeared right beside them. He gritted his teeth, swinging his keyblade at her as she rolled to the side. She stabbed her sword at Cloud, barely missing him as he slammed his own giant sword into the ground in front of him.

Yuffie leapt up from Leon's side, snatching her Conformer from the ground and joining the fight as Rosso began to lunge from fighter to fighter, hoping to catch one of them off guard. Sora nearly caught her with a vertical slice as she dodged Cloud's buster sword, and she retaliated gracefully by swinging her double ended sword in a wide circle as she slide back. Cloud cursed and Riku reeled back in pain as the end of the sword caught his forearm. She seemed pleased with the sudden blood drawn and paused long enough to let out another maniacal laugh. Yuffie seethed with anger, launching the Conformer between the two surprised younger men and catching Rosso in the thigh before she had a chance to move. She vanished from sight with a curse and Yuffie dashed forward to catch the Conformer. Shuffling closer to the three men, Yuffie raised her favored weapon and glanced around.

"Good shot, little ninja. You always were the one I most looked forward to killing…" The voice whispered in her ear and sent shivers down her spine.

Cloud staggered beside her and she quickly moved to his side. Blood dripped down his leg as he breathed out a curse.

"She's too fast…" Yuffie murmured, placing a hand on her old friend's shoulder as he pushed himself back up to his feet.

Sora cried out in surprise and leapt upward, flipping in midair to swing his keyblade down at the crimson woman as she tried to catch him off guard.

"Shit!" Everyone turned to look at Riku as he fell to the side, barely dodging one of the tall grey monsters as it burst out of the ground. Blood dripped from its mouth as it howled at him, and he wasted no time in attacking the creature.

Several more of the demonic beasts appeared and Yuffie looked around them helplessly, the ground trembling from the force. _This is impossible… _her grip on the giant shuriken tightened and she gritted her teeth.

Rushing into the battle, she leapt at one of the monsters, catching it before it could react and stabbing at its face with the shuriken. It howled angrily, the sound reverberating through her body and making her head pound. She lost her grip and fell back down, landing painfully on her side. The creature above her weaved to the side before falling over and writhing in pain.

Glancing up, she could see cloud cut one of the creatures in half with his giant sword, but another one appeared moments later to replace it. Riku's shoulder was bleeding rather badly, but he didn't seem to notice as he dodged back and forth slicing at two of the monsters as they tried to overwhelm him. Yuffie struggled to her feet, her eyes widening at the nightmare she had dragged her friends into.

"Yuffie!" She looked up in time to see Riku dart in front of her, wrapping and arm around her neck. A violent jolt went through his body and his grip on her tightened, a gasp escaping his lips as he pulled her close.

"Riku…" She held on to him as he sank to his knees, blood dripping down his body.

She didn't want to see how bad it was, tears ran down her face and she stared at him as he gasped in agony.

Sudden screaming pierced the air and startled Yuffie away from the injured boy in her arms. Rosso was lying in the dirt, clawing desperately at it and writhing in pain. The creatures around them seemed to freeze and Sora took the moment to limp over to his best friend.

"What's happening?" He asked Yuffie, leaning down to brace a hand against Riku's back.

Yuffie shook her head in confusion. "I have no idea…" The screaming grew louder and she found herself covering her ears, her head pounding painfully as if the sound waves were trying to beat her to death.

The world around them seemed to fade to black, and she grasped desperately for the two boys beside her as she began to feel like she was falling.

More screaming, louder and less painful this time.

Yuffie opened her eyes, a slightly foggy blue sky hanging overhead. Her heart started to pound and she sat up, looking around to see where the screaming was coming from.

Immediately, she noticed Rosso curled up the ground, glaring up at Tifa as she leaned over her. Blood dripped from the corner of Rosso's mouth, and her face was twisted up in a grimace of hatred at the brunette girl pinning her to the ground. Kairi was standing just behind her, hands over her mouth as blood began to seep through and stain the rocky surface beneath them.

Yuffie manage to push herself up to her feet, standing shakily and looking around.

"What the hell is going on…" She breathed, holding a hand to her head as she stumbled forward.

"Yuffie! You're alright!" Kairi groaned, obviously sick from watching Tifa's dirty work. She rushed over to the older girl, helping her over to where Tifa was crouched.

Tifa sat up, a look of disgust on her face as she roughly yanked one of Yuffie's kunai knives from Rosso's chest. The woman beneath her let out a choked gasp, coughing up blood and rolling on her side as Tifa dropped the knife. She held out a shaking hand to Yuffie, pulling the girl into a hug.

A groan from behind them returned their attention to the unconscious forms settled on the dusty rocks. Kairi rushed over to help Sora sit up as he started to open his eyes.

Yuffie immediately ran to Riku's side to make sure he wasn't injured. There was no sign of blood, and she stroked his hair as he started to come around.

"What happened?" He asked, sitting up quickly and looking around. He noticed Rosso's bleeding form several feet away and stared in shock. Yuffie beamed happily at him, giving him a gentle kiss before rushing over to check on Leon.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, and for a brief moment Yuffie thought she saw a small smile, quickly replaced by his usual cold look as he sat up. He quickly pushed himself to his feet, pacing over to Rosso's body and kicking it in the chest.

"Is she dead?" Sora asked, cradling Kairi to his chest as she tried to avoid looking at the bloodstained body.

"Yea. She's pretty dead." Leon said blankly.

"What happened, anyway?" Riku asked, looking over at Tifa as she helped Cloud to his feet.

"Well, I woke up in the Bailey with Kairi leaning over me, and she told me in panic that everyone was down here and she didn't know what was happening. So we hiked down as fast as we could, and found all of you spread out unconscious. Even that thing," Tifa gestured distastefully at Rosso's body, "Just laying here like it was nap time. So I got to thinking and decided that maybe just killing her would work best." She spat the words out, glaring hatred at the now dead woman.

Yuffie hummed softly, grasping Riku's hands as he wound his arms around her shoulders. "She pulled us into her own world. I guess to do that she had to let go of you first. Her only weakness was out of our reach, but not yours. Big mistake, hm?"

"I think it's safe to say, that was the single worst experience of my life." Riku murmured darkly, tightening his arms around Yuffie.

Sora groaned. "Yea, I think we're all about fifteen years older now…"

**xXx Epilogue xXx**

Yuffie stared out across the plains stretching across the horizon. A gentle glow emanated along the distant edge of the mountains, outlining the rugged terrain. Shifting her gaze downward, she could see the wall she sat on disappear into the darkness, seeming to blend with the dark blue grey rocks below. The night air was cold, a nice change from the heat of the previous day. She sighed peacefully and closed her eyes as a soft breeze blew through her hair.

"You should get some sleep."

She turned around, her eyes trailing through the darkness to the dark form of the man walking up behind her. Her gaze darkened for a moment until he was close enough that the soft glow of his silver hair appeared. Offering her hand, he took it and let her pull him over to her seat in the Bailey window.

"She's not coming back. You can stop watching." He said it softly, but there was a hint of irritation in his tone. It made her smile.

"You don't have to come out here looking for me every night." She said honestly, glancing over as he pulled himself up to sit next to her in the window.

"How am I supposed to protect you from your nightmares if you always wander off in the middle of the night?" He asked, pulling her closer with an arm around her waist.

"For your information, I haven't had a nightmare in three days." Yuffie said smugly, kicking her feet over the ledge.

"You barely slept in the past three days, it doesn't count." Riku replied. Yuffie was quiet for a few moments, resting her head on his shoulder tiredly.

"Come on, let's go home." He finally said, pulling gently on her arm.

She sighed, letting him slide her off the ledge and into his arms. She wound her fingers into his shirt happily, being this close to him made her feel so peaceful. She watched the streetlights pass by as he carried her the short walk to his apartment. His heavy footsteps echoed against the houses around them, and Yuffie closed her eyes as she enjoyed the peaceful walk.

All too soon they were standing outside his apartment door, and Yuffie reached over to turn the doorknob for him. He kicked the door closed behind them and walked into the bedroom, setting her gently on the bed. She curled up on her side as he pulled a blanket over her, lying down beside her in the dark.

Yuffie smiled as he reached over her to take her hand. She couldn't even remember the last time she had gone to sleep without being terrified of what she might dream.

**The End**

_Thanks for reading this story, it was really fun to write. And thank you, everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry if the mistakes in this chapter were really bad, I tried to catch them all but proofreading your own work is really tough. Please review and let me know how good or bad my story was._


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